Tumultuous Harmony
by daccu65
Summary: They had been friends forever. Sure, there were a few adjustments to make when they started dating, but this romance thing was going to be smooth sailing….right?
1. Chapter 1

__Dear potential reader:__

__I do not own Kim Possible, nor any of the other characters appearing in this story. This story is not intended to generate profit; it was written for the joy of writing and, hopefully, your enjoyment in reading.__

__The places and people depicted in this tale are fictional. Any resemblance to any existing people, city, schools or other institutions is completely coincidental. If anyone reading this tale sees and is offended by a similarity, please contact the author and alterations will be made. Now the the preliminaries have been dealt with, please enjoy...__

* * *

Prologue: Camp Gottagrin.

Fingernails on chalkboards were more relaxing. Her cousin Larry's nasal laughter was more relaxing. Kim Possible had suffered through more than her share of unpleasant noises in her life, but she hadn't had to try and sleep through them. Bonnie's all-night snoring was the sort of thing that even Shego wouldn't try to inflict on someone. Kim removed her pillow from where she had wrapped it around her head in a vain effort to drown out the racket and looked around the cabin, hoping for a sympathetic look from Tara or Hope, the other two girls in the cabin. No luck.

Tara was wearing ear buds and had her phone set to play music. Hope was wearing big, ugly earmuffs. Unfortunately, this wasn't something that Kim could do. Maybe it was her alpha personality, maybe her life as a heroine meant that she couldn't stand the idea of not being aware of her surroundings. Even while asleep, she wanted to be able to react to things around her. The logic was brutal and unavoidable; she wasn't going to be able to sleep in the same room as Bonnie.

Of course, logic also gave her a way out. She couldn't sleep here and she needed to sleep, therefore, she had to go somewhere else. She pulled on her robe, grabbed her pillow and blanket, and slipped out of the cabin. Looking over the moonlit camp, her gaze fixed on the boathouse. She realized that this was probably the only building in the camp that would be unoccupied through the night and early morning. Maybe she could pile up some life jackets to make a bed and get a little sleep. It was as good a plan as she could think of, so she set her course in that direction, while setting an alarm on her Kimmunicator to wake her up in enough time to slip back to the cabin before she was missed.

She was frustrated; the week had started with such promise: The squad was ready and even Ron had the respect of the other mascots. They were in the top position before Bonnie started her petty demands and Ron developed his ridiculous infatuation with Gil. Now, the team's cohesion was just about nil, she was tired and cranky and Ron was almost to the point that he didn't dare show his face without facing a deluge of scorn and hurled debris.

The cool air seemed to calm her, so she walked past the boathouse and onto the dock. There must have been a touch of wind, not enough for her to feel but enough to give the surface of the lake a bit of a ripple, making the moon's reflection break into a million sparkling points. Enthralled by the sight, she didn't spot the boy on the dock until he spotted her.

"Oh, excuse me!" They both said, trying to keep their voices down, instant co-conspirators who were out of their cabins after dark, and thus doing something they shouldn't be doing.

"I guess I should ask what brings you here," the boy told her. "But I think you should be asking me the same thing."

Even though the light was dim, she noted that his smile was very bright.

"I have a cabin-mate that loves challenges," she sighed. "She's challenging me for the captain spot, she's challenging everyone to be on the top of the pyramid. Right now, she's challenging any chainsaw to a noise-making contest."

He snorted, and she noted that he was very cute.

"So, now that I've told you my story, what brings you out here after dark?"

"A couple of my cabin-mates have decided that being out in a forest, by a beautiful lake and surrounded by pretty girls isn't good enough," he told her. "They decided to alter their perception of reality and the products of combustion from this process make me feel a little ill. I'm out in the fresh air, waiting for them to get done, so I can go back and open the windows, then wait until the cabin airs out a little."

She nodded her understanding. Whenever a large group of high school students got together, it seemed that a few of them would sneak something along.

"Oh, maybe I didn't get out of the cabin in time," he noted. "Where are my manners? My name is Chase Ziemlich, I'm from Central High in Southville."

"Nice to meet you," Kim offered her hand, which he took and shook. She noted that his hand was warm and strong, even though he didn't squeeze hers. He loosened his grip so that she could remove her hand, which she did so reluctantly. "I'm...I mean...I'm..."

"You don't need to introduce yourself," he assured her. "Everyone knows Kim Possible from Middleton High. Instead of telling me your name, maybe you could answer a couple of questions."

"Sure," she decided that it was more pleasant to talk to a cute boy than try to sleep in the boathouse.

"What's wrong with your mascot?"

"Oh, Ron can't seem to let go of the past," she told him.

"The past?" He asked. "He has some sort of a past with that other mascot...Gill?"

"Gil," Kim corrected him. "Or, at least it is now. The last time we saw him, it was Gill, with two l's, and he was a mutant."

Chase was silent for a couple of breaths. "I don't want to act like you're messing with me," he finally told her. "But that's some story."

"It sounds far-fetched, I know," Kim admitted. "But it was right here and Gill was out for revenge against Ron for something way back during elementary school summer camp. Ron got the best of him but can't seem to grasp the fact that he's rehabilitated, or that the lake is cleaned up."

"Okay," his expression showed that he was trying to decide if she was feeding him a story or not. "Maybe he has a reason, but he's taken it too far. Maybe I shouldn't have chucked that plum at him."

Kim frowned momentarily. "I guess everyone else was doing it," she said. "Please, just don't do it any more. Do me a favor? Try to spread the word that he has his reasons, even if he's overreacting."

"Sure thing," he smiled. "But you owe me another answer in return."

"Okay," Kim liked the idea of standing in the moonlight with him, trading small favors.

"Is your coach always like that, or his he putting on some sort of act?"

"No, Mr. Barkin is pretty much like that twenty-four seven," she smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Really?" Chase looked stunned. "Our coach, Mr. Bight, is the same way! He acts like every competition, every class is some sort of military operation and the fate of the world rides on it."

"Don't tell me he's the assistant principal and the substitute teacher for every class in the school," she groaned.

Chase's expression gave her the answer.

"I can't believe it!" She reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "I guess all Mr. B's are the same!"

"You must see a lot of that," he told her.

"A lot of what?" She asked.

"Everything!" He answered. "You travel all over the world...do you care to share some stories?"

"Are you sure you want to listen?"

"Hey, being out in the moonlight with a pretty girl is a lot better than sitting in a cloud of pot smoke."

"Okay, but let me know if you start to get bored."

Kim started telling him about the missions, the criminals she fought, the volunteering she did and the people she helped. Every once in awhile, he would make a witty comment that would leave her laughing. He told a few stories of silly things that happened at his school and in his town, making her laugh even more. Occasionally, one would reach out and squeeze the other's hand or shoulder. Without realizing it, they slid closer and closer together.

Soon, he was asking her about how she felt on the missions, what made her happy and what irritated her. Soon, she was talking about what made her feel good about herself. He asked her about how being a heroine affected her life and if she sometimes asked herself if it was worth it. She found herself unwinding, talking about herself and the things that made her happy. She also noted that he was a little taller than she was, the height that she found the most appealing.

"So, while the rest of the school was dancing to a popular band, back in Middleton, I wound up dancing with a naked mole rat in New York City," she finished her latest story.

He chuckled a little bit, then tilted his head. "I can't believe that you didn't have a date for the dance," he commented.

"Well, I was awfully busy," she admitted. "That's why I put those shoes on in the first place."

"Yeah, but look at you. You're gorgeous, smart, witty and kind."

"Well, I guess I'm not all...that...much...of..." she stammered to a halt, realizing just how close together they were and that as much as it was disconcerting, it was far from unpleasant.

His face came down to hers and she rose to meet him. His arms around her felt perfect, as did his neck within hers. When his tongue brushed against her teeth, she opened her mouth and welcomed it in. She didn't know if she slid her hands up under his shirt before or after he slid his inside of her robe, she only knew that the feel of his bare back under her hands was almost as stimulating as the feel of his hands caressing her back through the thin fabric of her pajamas.

Did she nudge them towards the boathouse, or did she follow his lead? Once inside, did he draw her down onto the pile of life jackets, or did he follow her lead? He mumbled something about protection and consequences, which she assured him wasn't an issue. Her last rational thought was amazement that he seemed to be under the same spell that she was...a spell that she couldn't remember casting on him.

It was dark when the Kimmunicator's harsh tone woke her. The young man, who was partially next to her and partially underneath her, also lurched into wakefulness. Her first reaction was shock over what she had done the previous night. The second thought was that with the magic of the moment gone, the makeshift mattress wasn't very comfortable, the boathouse was drafty and the smell wasn't exactly pleasant...but he was still enormously cute. Then it was time to quit thinking and scramble to find the clothes they had tossed in all directions the night before. All too soon, they were both dressed and facing an awkward moment.

"Chase, last night," she began. "It's not something I..."

"I know," he interrupted. "I kind of got caught up...I hope you aren't mad at me."

"No!" She insisted. "But...does this go any farther? Are we an item now?"

"If you want to," he told her. "But we live about four, five hundred miles away from each other. Can we make this work?"

"I'd like to try," she confessed. "But we have to get moving! My cabin-mates are going to wake up before much longer."

"Mine won't," he snorted. "But you're right, we have to get moving. There's always delays after the competition, maybe we can talk before we get bused off."

"I'd like that," she told him, dropping her eyes shyly. "After all, this is a cheer competition. It's not like some giant monster is going to go rampaging through the camp and distract us."

* * *

Present Day:

"As you know, Central High isn't a normal opponent of ours," Coach Barkin announced to his players, as they gathered together in the visitors locker room prior to taking the field. "This game is a personal pledge between myself and the opposing coach, Mr. Bight. We were in the same squad back in the service, where we pushed each other to excellence. We promised each other that we would continue to do so in civilian life, therefore, when he became coach, it was an honor to schedule a game against him. It is an even greater honor to play him on his school's homecoming game. We will further honor him by demolishing his team."

A ragged round of cheers echoed through the room.

"Men, you are representing Middleton High against a school we very rarely face! This is your opportunity to make a lasting impression. You will not fail! We have prepared! We have drilled our plan over and over. You are ready! It is now merely executing the game plan! Execute, force your will upon the opponent! Execute, and force his responses to become so disjointed and confused that they become irrelevant. Execute, and we will have victory!"

Ron joined in on the cheers this time.

"Now, for those of you who are not motivated enough to give your utmost for the sake of your school and teammates, I have another piece of news for you. As you know, college scouts will be watching this game, they are present for almost every game. However, the scouts here tonight are not the ones usually watching us play or usual rivals. Some of you are hoping to fund a college education through athletic scholarships. This is your opportunity to impress a new group of potential recruiters, so let's go out there and crush Central, for your school, for your teammates, for your futures and for the simple joy of proving your superiority!"

Ron didn't know how such a simplistic, silly speech could be so rousing, but it worked. He cheered with the rest of the team, then trotted out of the locker room and onto the field. As was the custom, the hosting team wasn't on the field yet and this far away from Middleton, the vast majority of the spectators were fans of the home team. The Mad Dogs took the field to a mixture of polite applause and slightly less polite boos. He took his spot in the lineup and went through the pre-game stretching, while glancing to the sidelines and looking for his girlfriend.

He spotted the Middleton squad talking to the hosting team's cheerleaders. This was a custom but what wasn't customary was the several slightly older people, not wearing uniforms, accompanying the Central High cheerleaders. It didn't take Ron long to figure it out; this was Central's homecoming game and graduates were encouraged to come back and interact with those who were still students. Ron frowned a bit when Kim shared a quick hug with a boy wearing a Granite Peak State hoodie, but the frown faded when she moved on and shared hugs with other Central cheerleaders and graduates.

Faded, but didn't go away. Something seemed familiar about the boy. Unfortunately for Ron, the stretching was the same every game, so he was able to put himself on autopilot while he dug through his memories to try to figure out who the boy was. Also unfortunately for him, he never forgot a bully or someone who had insulted him. It took half of the stretching time before he jogged his memory. While he didn't know the older boy's name, he remembered the face. He was one of the cheerleaders who had called him a loser and threw debris at him when he tried to warn them about Gil. He, like everyone else, failed to apologize when Gill attacked. Okay, the disruption might have prevented a proper apology, but you'd think someone would have made the effort, especially after he had willingly turned himself into a beaver-mutant to fight his nemesis.

Well, that was just fine! Now that his memory had been set on that path, he noted that a couple of the Central cheerleaders had been present at Wannaweep, and had joined in on the shouting and throwing. He wasn't so petty that he'd resort to getting revenge, but maybe he could put in extra effort tonight. After all, he wasn't getting even; he was correcting them. Losers didn't scorch an opposing team during its homecoming game.

* * *

Kim was really wishing that her boyfriend didn't have the soft spot in his heart. Okay, she loved the soft spot, but it didn't always result in a good outcome. Case in point, one Bonnie Rockwaller talking about her new boyfriend, Senor Senior Jr.

"And for Christmas Break, he's sending his private jet to Middleton to pick me up," the brunette continued. "That trip is going to be so much more fun than this torture session..."

Okay, she had a point with that. Kim didn't know why Mr. Barkin had scheduled a game against Southville, but the result was a bus trip of over seven hours. She would have been able to call in a favor for the ride, but the school's policy stated that all players and cheerleaders were required to utilize school transportation for the trip to and from all school events. There was also a strict no-fraternization policy which translated into the team taking one bus while the cheerleaders rode on a mini-bus. Okay, the mini-bus should have been more comfortable for just six girls and two younger teen boys, but when one of the girls was determined to show up the others by talking non-stop about the boyfriend she just met a week ago, it was a torture run.

If it wasn't for Ron's soft spot, they wouldn't have taken her along on the mission. If it wasn't for taking her along on the mission, she and Junior wouldn't have met each other. Therefore, because of Ron's soft heart, Bonnie had hooked up with Junior. As a result, five girls, two young boys and a driver had to listen to her painstaking description of the Seniors' Island, despite the fact that Bonnie had only been to the place once.

"...so I don't know if I'm going to be lounging by the pool or lounging on the beach. I mean, their servants will be bringing us drinks and food wherever we lounge and if it rains, we can always go to the indoor pool or fly off to mainland Europe somewhere..."

Since starting to travel with the cheer squad as a freshman, since starting her missions in middle school, since going on family trips since before she had clear memories, Kim had never looked forward to the end of a trip as much as she looked forward to this one. She checked the GPS on her Kimmunicator repeatedly, begging the little symbol to move faster and get them to Southville before she went insane, or dragged the brunette out of the still moving vehicle and attached her to the roof for the remainder of the trip. Of course, the two outcomes weren't mutually exclusive.

Discretely, Kim checked her carry-along pack and confirmed that she had a roll of duct tape, just in case.

"...and the ballroom! They have their own ballroom and they invite the upper crust of society to their events! Junior's going to have the finest French and Italian designers make a gown, just for me! It's going to be such a relief to associate with these people, rather than the sort from Middleton."

Fortunately for Bonnie, they reached their destination at about that time. Since none of the squad, other than Kim, had been to Southville before this, there was a lot of looking out of the windows. Bonnie, realizing that her captive audience wasn't so captive anymore, stopped her tirade. Soon, they were at the school and a member of the Central High Cheer Squad showed them to their changing room. Putting up with Bonnie's comments was easier now, as everyone knew it would be just a few minutes before they were on the sidelines. In fact, the squad came close to setting a record for getting ready. Not a moment too soon, they were out the door and walking to the sidelines.

The Middleton section was mostly empty, as expected for a game this far away. Kim quickly spotted, and waved to, her and Ron's fathers. Soon, the Middleton Team appeared and ran onto the field. Kim led the squad in a cheer, even though there wasn't much of a response from the handful of Middleton fans. A few minutes later, the home team took the field. While the teams went through their stretches, Central's cheerleaders approached the squad to offer greetings. Central and Middleton didn't play each other during the regular season, but cheer competitions encompassed a wider area. Because of this, Kim recognized their captain, May. The Central squad was accompanied by several, slightly older people, not in uniform.

"It's homecoming," May told Kim. "So former squad members were invited to come back and spend some time with us. I'll introduce them with the rest of the squad."

Kim was a little surprised when one of the first to be introduced was Chase Ziemlich, who was wearing a college hoodie. Still, she recovered, giving him a quick hug, greeting the rest of the Central cheerleaders and alumni, then introducing the Middleton Squad, as well as Tim and Jim.

"What happened to your old mascot?" May, asked her. "He seemed to be having a complete meltdown back at Gottagrin, but he turned out to be right."

"Well, Ron's the starting running back now," Kim told her.

"Don't you think you're leaving something out?" Chase chimed in. "If the gossip magazines are to be believed, he's your boyfriend now."

Chase showed no sign of jealousy; he seemed happy that Kim was dating.

"Yeah, he's my boyfriend," Kim confirmed. "We got together at last year's prom."

"When you took down that blue guy," May added. "Congratulations on that, and on the boyfriend."

"Thanks," Kim smiled at her. "But how have things been going with your squad?"

"It can be a hassle," May admitted. "Mr. Bight is the football coach, the cheerleader coach, and substitute teaches for just about every class."

"I heard about him," Kim told her. "He seems to be the same as our Mr. Barkin."

"I wonder if our Barkin is worse than their Bight," Tara murmured.

There were some odd looks directed at the blonde, but the conversation was pleasant up until kickoff time, when it was time to become cheerleaders again. Kim was a little surprised to see that Ron was in the backfield to receive, as Barkin didn't like to put him in on special teams. The opposing kicker sent the ball into the air, flying left to right from Kim's point of view. She saw Ron catch it and start running to the near side of the field, then suddenly sprint to his right. She was at the field level and not very tall, so she quickly lost sight of him, but was able to track his progress by the frantic sprinting of the players between him and her. A moment later, he burst out in front of the pack and sprinted into the end zone for the touchdown.

Kim started her squad on the 'after a score' cheer, despite the very few fans lending their voices to support. That was fine; sometimes a cheer squad was the only support the team had. Off to her left, the Central cheerleaders were going into their 'pick up the spirits' cheer, while the kicking teams took the field. As her boyfriend trotted off of the field, he caught her eye and offered a small fist-pump. Deciding that Barkin must have wanted to make a statement, early, against this new opponent, she returned the gesture.

It wasn't exactly a nail-biting close game, but it wasn't a blowout either. It was the sort of game where Ron got a great deal of playing time and as per the usual outcome, he got better as the game continued. Kim was troubled, but not a great deal. She knew her boyfriend's body language, even when he was wearing his pads, and knew that tonight, he had a bit of an attitude. She had also watched him play several previous games and could tell he was running differently, taking a few more hits while trying to pick up more yardage. After particularly good plays, Tara gave her a discrete nudge. For all that she was a sweet soul, Tara didn't understand; she thought that Kim was basking in the reflected glory of her boyfriend's achievements. Instead, Kim rejoiced that Ron, so often overlooked, belittled and ridiculed, was thriving. Still, the blonde girl's intentions were kindly enough that Kim had no problem smiling along with her.

On the other hand, Kim had to struggle to keep from smirking at Bonnie. The snobbish brunette hated seeing the 'loser' overshadow Brick's accomplishments and hated that fact that she had to cheer for him while he did it, even more. Still, she was serious about cheerleading, so she plastered her overly-wide smile on her face and increased the volume of the chants and cheers, making up for the low number of Middleton fans.

Halftime came and the Middleton cheerleaders had more of a break than usual. Usually, halftime meant that the home team's band played songs to keep the spectators entertained and the cheerleaders would perform dance routines to the music. Instead, it was homecoming activities; with the marching band performing and the presentation of the homecoming royalty. Central High proved to be a gracious host; the Middleton Squad's dressing room was provided with some snacks and drinks, allowing the girls to relax before the second half.

Before the second half kickoff, Kim took the chance to talk to her father and Mr. Stoppable a little. She also spoke to Wade and was gratified to learn that the bad guys were quiet. It had been a long bus ride to Southville, which meant it would be an equally long bus ride back. They wouldn't get back until the sun was back up and she hated fighting the bad guys when she was exhausted. The rest of the squad was talking to other Middleton fans; with the exceptions of Bonnie, who was texting Junior, and Crystal, who was talking to Chase, when Kim rounded everyone up so they would be ready for the game.

The second half saw Middleton extending its lead. Kim was a little puzzled, as Barkin would usually pull Ron out of the game once he had a big enough lead. On a couple of occasions, when the Middleton defense was on the field, Ron approached Barkin on the sidelines, the two talked, and Ron was back in when the offense took the field again. Finally, partway through the fourth quarter, after Ron took a carry to one side of the field, broke a tackle and suddenly reversed his course and ran around the opposition for a long touchdown run, the big coach firmly sat her boyfriend on the bench. After that, with both teams' substitute players on the field, the clock quickly ran down to the end of the game.

* * *

Despite the fact that Barkin took pride in being incredibly blunt, he could often be hard to understand. A case in point was Ron's running style. Ron was both fast and agile, coupled with the reflexes he had developed by dodging various beams, rays, plasma blasts, angry henchmen and flying debris made him a formidable quarry for high school students in football pads. However, Barkin wasn't satisfied and demanded that he not shy away from contact, pointing out that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line. The big man also stated that other players, both Middleton and opponents, would respect him more if he made more contact.

However, it seemed that whenever he tried to run over people rather than run around them, Barkin chewed him out and told him to use his speed. By his third game, Ron had decided that an angry coach was a fact of life; much like mystery meat smiling up from the plate, his game controller jamming whenever he seemed about to beat Felix or his parents using the phrase 'this is our way of telling you.' Yet, tonight he seemed to have hit the balance that Barkin wanted. While he ran around people whenever he could, he hit people a little more often than usual, and Barkin seemed to approve. Because of this, he asked the big man to keep him in the game longer than usual. Also, he was in the zone and rolling up yards on Central High.

Every once in awhile, he would look towards the cheerleaders who had hated on him for trying to warn them that Gil was going to go Gill. Cheerleaders were supposed to stay upbeat and energetic throughout the game, but it wasn't easy when your team was being outplayed. Ron was the star tonight, and he took a great deal of delight in the occasional frowns he saw on the Central squad, both the current members and the graduates that had come back for the game. For the first time in his career, he was disappointed when Barkin pulled him from the game and refused to let him back in. Still, he had made his point, even if nobody else knew what the point was.

As per proper etiquette, and Barkin was a stickler for that, Ron trotted onto the field to shake hands and exchange pleasantries with the opposing players. He was more than a little shocked when the former Central cheerleader, they guy who Kim was talking to and who had mocked him at Wannaweep, approached him.

"Ron Stoppable," he asked. "Middleton's former mascot?"

"That's me," Ron growled his response.

"I just want to say that, I'm sorry for the way I treated you back at Gottagrin," he said, offering his hand. "You have to admit, claiming that some guy's going to turn into a mutant is hard to believe."

"Not when it happened only a year before," Ron protested. "It was in the papers."

"Yeah, I guess I got caught up with the crowd," he admitted. "Still, thanks for putting it on the line and saving our butts."

"Yeah, no big," Ron grumbled, finally taking his hand.

There were a few more hands to shake, a few more shoulders to thump before heading into the dressing room for a shower and the post-game talk from Barkin, before the long, long bus ride home. It was fortunate that the team had a couple of large buses, with seats that could lean back. It had been a very, very long day.

On Saturday, Ron came to the conclusion that it was sometimes good to be him. First, he had the skill to sleep just about anywhere, so the bus trip back to Middleton was nothing to him. He liked working in the pet department at Smartymart, so the morning went by in a breeze. However, the real luck came after he got off of work.

Kim liked fancy dates; this was why he had the job at Smartymart. But she only wanted them every once in awhile. The rest of the time, she was happy with nacos and a movie or other things that didn't require a lot of money or dressing up. Of course, asking her what she wanted to do probably helped with things.

"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" He asked her, after sending the last bit of his naco down the hatch. "We can either hit the go-kart track, the bike trail, or rock climbing."

"Ron, you hate the rock climbing," she pointed out.

"True," he shrugged. "But you like it and I like being around you when you're happy."

"You knucklehead," she chuckled, but she did it with a slightly lowered head and a look at him that made his breath catch.

"Hey, if you want to do something different, just say," he suggested.

"I think we should go home, chill out on the couch and figure it out," she told him.

It was already dark out and it was chilly, so she bumped up against him; a gesture he had learned. He put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him as they walked from Bueno Nacho to her house.

"Life is good," he sighed.

She giggled a little. "What besides being with your girlfriend makes life so good?" She asked.

"Well, the girlfriend would be good enough," he told her. "But other things seem to be working out."

"Like what?"

"Well, I managed to find a home for Elizabeth today," he told her, pride sounding in his voice.

"The gorilla?" She asked "Who buys a gorilla?"

"Somebody who doesn't have one," he shot back. "Besides that, the game yesterday was awesome!"

"If you say so," she shrugged. "The bus ride was torture."

"Well, it was worth it," he insisted. "Wade called me earlier, I set a new state record for rushing yardage in a single game. A state record!"

"I didn't think you were all that much about the records," she told him. Ron could tell that she was getting a little put off about his gloating.

"It's what the record means," he insisted. "College recruiters might have been watching, that game could have gotten me a scholarship!"

"Oh!" She looked a lot more understanding.

"I don't have the academics that you do," he pointed out. "Or the fame. Maybe the mad running away skills can get me a degree."

"That makes sense."

"That, and I stuck it to the Central High cheer squad," he declared.

"What?"

"They were at Wannaweep during the competition," he reminded her. "They called me a loser and threw stuff at me when I tried to warn everyone! It felt good to get the win over them."

Kim didn't have anything to say about that. Now, in the moment and not paying much attention to his girlfriend, he continued.

"And that jerk that hit me with the plum, he actually came up an apologized to me."

"He's not a jerk," Kim protested.

"He threw a piece of fruit at me when I was trying to warn him about Gil," Ron told her. "That makes him a jerk."

"How did you know it was him?" Kim demanded. "I thought that almost everyone at that assembly was calling you a loser and throwing things at you!"

"How many times has anyone hit you with a plum?" He asked.

"Well, I can't recall it ever happening..." she admitted.

"Exactly! It's a rare experience, so you remember! I can remember that face, even though he was wearing that college hoodie last night."

"I still don't think he's a jerk," Kim insisted. "He did apologize, after all."

"Over a year after the fact," he retorted. "That squad knew what school I was from, they could have sent a letter saying they were wrong...hey, why are you sticking up for him?"

"What?" Kim was caught off guard by his sudden change in subject.

"You're sticking up for that guy," Ron pressed. "I think he's a jerk because he called me a loser and threw something at me. Why are you defending him?"

"Well, maybe he's not a jerk."

Ron took his arm from around her shoulders and turned to look at her. "There's something more to this," he finally said. "You aren't defending the rest of their squad, why are you standing up for him?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," she told him.

"You started talking about it when you defended him," he pointed out.

"Can't you just let this drop?" She asked.

"I don't think so," he told her. "I'm invoking the Halloween promise we made each other two years ago. When one of us wants to know the truth, the other one has to tell it."

"Ron, I don't think you really want to know about this."

"You realize that telling your boyfriend that he doesn't want to know about it means that he's most certainly going to want to know about it."

"Okay, fine," she said. She looked around the street and realized that they were almost to her house. Hopefully, just out of the range of the eavesdropping devices her brothers used. "Maybe you do want to know. The last night at Gottagrin..."

"Wannaweep," he insisted.

"Fine, Wannaweep," she rolled her eyes. "Bonnie's snoring was bad, I mean really bad, so I slipped out of the cabin and headed for the boathouse. Down on the docks, I ran into Chase."

"So you remember his name," Ron was getting a decidedly uneasy look on his face.

She knew he was going to be upset, but she had said enough for him to fill in the blanks, and the truth wouldn't be any worse than what he must be thinking. She told him; she didn't go into any more details than she had to, but she was bluntly honest. He just stared at her for a time that seemed forever.

"I was in that boathouse earlier that day," he finally said. "I was hiding from everyone who decided that I needed more insults for being suspicious of Gil."

Kim flinched slightly at that.

"I hid behind those life jackets so they couldn't see me from the window and I noticed that they hadn't been approved by either Underwriters Laboratories or the US Coast Guard."

"What?" Now, she was more confused than nervous.

"Those life jackets weren't even approved for what they are supposed to be used for," he glared at her. "And you used them as a mattress when you..." his voice faded away.

"You're more upset about the life jackets than..."

"No!" He told her. "I'm upset about a lot more than that, but I'm not thinking very clearly right now. Maybe it's best that I go home and we deal with this later."

"What's to deal with?" She asked him. "What's done is done, it's in my past, where it belongs."

"I just neeto go home and think for a little while. See you Monday at school."

"But it's only Saturday," she protested.

He only gave her a pointed look before stalking off into the night.

* * *

_A/N: I would like to thank CajunBear73, Sentinel103, Jimmy1201 and Mindless Violence Fan for taking the time to review the concept for this story. Biggest thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading. _


	2. Chapter 2

"I'll see you __Monday__ in school..."

"I'll see you _Monday ___in school__..."

Her boyfriend was usually about as subtle as a tablespoon of curry power in a cup of vanilla pudding, so while she had picked up on the Monday reference, she had missed what he meant by "in school". It wasn't until he walked by her house without a second glance that she realized what he had meant. Since middle school, Ron had stopped by her house, like clockwork, every day that they were both attending classes. Except for when she was seeing Eric. She felt a twinge of guilt, recalling that he had, indeed, stopped by, but she had already left.

The guilt didn't last long; she was peeved. She liked walking to school with her boyfriend and she didn't understand why he was acting like this. Okay, she understood why he was acting like this; the sitch with Chase had him upset. What she didn't understand was _why_ that sitch was bothering Ron. Her fling with Chase had been over a year ago, well before they became boyfriend and girlfriend. He had never shown any hostility towards her being with another guy, in fact he had even saved her life with the orchid while she was on a date with Josh, sneaking into the area and blowing the pollen onto her without Josh even knowing. Why was he peeved about Chase?

The two of them were together so often that most of their classmates thought they were dating well before they actually were. Showing up separately was going to make people wonder. If Ron avoided her, questions were going to be asked. She didn't care about her status, but that kind of scrutiny wasn't going to help work out a boyfriend/girlfriend issue.

She didn't get any satisfaction when she got to school; he didn't speak to her the entire morning and found reasons to keep away from her. As she feared, people noticed. Fortunately, she was able to keep busy enough that nobody asked her about it. At lunch, Ron was nowhere to be found when she took their usual table, but she wasn't alone very long.

"Alright, what's gone wrong?" Monique's question was followed by her tray plopping onto the table.

"Nothing's wrong," Kim told her, knowing that it wouldn't do any good to pretend she didn't know what her friend was talking about. "It's just a misunderstanding. We'll work things out in no time."

"Well, no time better be pretty quick," the gossip queen and fashion czar told her. "Bonnie's already at it."

"What's she saying?" Kim didn't know if she was disgusted that her rival was already up to her old game, relieved that she had something other than the current sitch to worry about, or irritated that Bonnie would make things more difficult.

"She's claiming that she kissed Ron during homecoming just as a publicity thing, but he took it seriously," Monique said. "According to her, the two of you are on thin ice because he's hung up on her now."

"And people believe this?" Kim shook her head.

"Most don't," Monique told her. "At least, not yet. If this silent treatment keeps up for a few days, more people are going to think it's the truth." She gave the redhead a measured look. "I know you don't much care what the gossips say, but it isn't pleasant when people start assuming that sort of thing. It puts questions in your mind."

"I have no doubt who Ron likes in that way," Kim sniffed. "And I have no doubt who I like in that way."

"Keep that attitude," Monique encouraged her. "But I have another piece of news. It seems Felix asked Ron what was up and your boyfriend said that he had to work things out in his mind. You have any idea what that means?"

"Yes," Kim frowned. As much as she was prepared to beat up anyone who called Ron an idiot, she had to admit that his mind didn't exactly work _fast_. He was _slow_ witted, not _dim_ witted and was actually very smart when he devoted the time to think about things. The fact that he was taking days to think this through meant that he was looking even deeper into the act, something that both warmed her and made her nervous at the same time.

"Well, I'll keep my ears open," Monique told her. "Anything new comes up, I'll let you know. By the way, I get a full explanation once this blows over."

"Fair enough," Kim agreed. Then it was time to quit talking and finish eating.

The afternoon wasn't any better. Ron was still avoiding her and if there was one skill he had mastered to a frightening degree, it was avoiding. There wasn't any relief after school, as he had football practice and she had cheer practice. The last game of the regular season was coming up, and a win would put Middleton into the playoffs. Kim was certain that Mr. Barkin would put his players through a torture session. Bonnie's attitude quickly made Kim decide that a torture session would be a good idea for the cheer squad, as well.

"Gee, K," Bonnie gasped, after about an hour. "Just because you're having troubles with your boyfriend doesn't mean you have to take it out on the rest of us. Did you finally wise up, or did he?"

"I think that last remark just earned the squad another twenty handsprings, each," Kim grated back. "The whole point of this extra exercise was to keep Bonnie so out of breath that she would quit talking about boyfriends during a team practice. We're the Middleton Cheer Squad, not the gossip squad. When we're here, we're all business."

There were grumbles and groans, but the squad did the drills. They might not like the exertion that Kim demanded, but they liked the trophies that those exertions brought. Also, they were probably just as tired of Bonnie's remarks as she was. Besides, if there was one thing that could make Kim forget other problems, it was a good workout. That took care of her irritability until she got home.

While her father was actually cool about her dating Ron, he really didn't pay much attention. Her brothers were also pretty much clueless when it came to romantic relationships but her mother was both a fan of her getting with Ron and very attentive to details. She noted that Ron hadn't shown up on Sunday, nor in the morning before school. Kim knew better than to lie and she nearly snapped at her mother, which would have certainly clued the doctor in that something was wrong. Instead, Kim stated that she hoped they'd get back to normalcy soon, while breathing a sigh of relief that she had gotten back home late enough to miss that Ron hadn't passed by on his way back from school.

This was another reason to deal with the sitch as quickly as possible; while her mother meant well, Kim didn't want her knowing what had happened at Wannaweep, which meant that she and Ron had to work it out on their own. However, they couldn't work it out if the two of them weren't talking. She was stuck wondering if facing him and talking to him would be the best course or if she needed to back off and let him get over whatever was bothering him about the sitch. That evening, she was looking at her Kimmunicator, wondering if she should call him, when he called her.

"Kim, can I come over and talk? I think it's best if we don't include anyone else just now."

She agreed, but she didn't like him using her proper name. It was a sure sign that he was upset. So she waited, trembling slightly and watched her window. The past school year's athletic activity had done his body a service. There were no noises to betray that he was climbing the tree outside her window; he slid from the foliage like a shadow to stand on the roof outside her room. His ashen expression and the dark circles under his eyes told her that he hadn't been handling the sitch very well. Kim's heart was in her throat as she opened the window, allowing her...hopefully still...boyfriend into her room. Ron hopped lightly down from the window and onto the floor then stopped. Obviously, he was just as reluctant, just as lost, as she was.

"Ron, I'm sorry if you're upset, but I don't see why," she told him, deciding to take the initiative and get things rolling. "I've had boyfriends before you and you dated Zita before we got together. What you did with her is none of my business and while I don't want to be rude about it, my past is my past."

"We weren't together that way back then," he agreed with her. "And I didn't know what was bothering me at the time, but I've had some time to think things through..." his voice faded to silence.

"Talk to me," she told him. She sat on her bed and patted the cover next to her. To her slight chagrin, he took the chair at her desk.

"Okay, we weren't dating back then, but we were best friends. Having an...affair...with a guy who who was shouting insults at me, who was throwing things at me..."

"I remember someone hanging with Bonnie, even though he knew she was just after the money he had just gotten," Kim pointed out. "Bonnie had insulted both of us for years, but did that stop you?"

"No," he admitted. "But we didn't..."

"Does it really make that much difference?" She asked. "The act?"

"I think so," he answered. "I think that...sex...is supposed to be with someone you love, someone you know well enough to know you love."

She believed the same thing and wanted to say this, but the facts contradicted this. Unable to argue his point, she lashed out. "Is that what this is all about?" She demanded. "You want to have sex with me and you're upset that you're not my first?"

"I want to have sex with you," he answered, in a calm voice that told her he had prepared himself for this question. "But I wanted to do it right, I wanted us to keep dating, get comfortable with each other and then, at some point, we would feel it was right to..."

"I understand," she assured him, feeling a great deal less belligerent.

"And this isn't about not being your first," he continued. "It's the fact that we must have wildly different attitudes about...sex. You didn't know that...Chase...even existed until a day or two before that night. You didn't even know his name until you met him on the dock."

"Ron, I wasn't looking to hook up when I left my cabin and went down to the lake," she protested. "I met him, one thing led to another and we wound up doing what we did."

"Even though you had a boyfriend," Ron pointed out. "You were dating Josh at the time."

"What?" She gasped. "Ron, I went on a couple of dates with Josh. We hung out at the mall a couple of times and went to two school dances together. He never asked me to be his girlfriend." She thought about his statement for a moment. "So that's what has you so upset," she concluded. "You thought that I cheated on Josh, which meant that I might cheat on you." She didn't know if she should be upset that Ron could think that way, or relieved that he had a legitimate, and incorrect, concern.

He just looked at her, like he wasn't sure he could believe what she had said.

"What?" She prompted him.

"You were really crushing on Josh," he finally said. "And after we got back from Wannaweep, you nearly got yourself blushed out of existence, just to go on a date with him; so yes, I'm worried about...us."

"You're my boyfriend and best friend," she was starting to get angry. "Do you think I'd cheat on you?"

"I can remember getting locked in a supply closet when you had your sights on a hot guy," he countered. "I can remember coming over to your house before school to find out that you'd already left with Eric. I didn't even get a call saying that you were already on your way. I know how you are with hot guys and I know that I'm not one."

"And I really had to push you to tell Yori we were dating," she growled back. "Don't go accusing me of having a wandering eye when I know you do, as well." She took a breath, gaining control over her temper. "Ron, we're teens, we're supposed to be distracted by a hottie, it doesn't mean that either one of us is going to do anything but look."

"But why didn't you tell me?" He asked, his voice quavering just a bit. "Don't you think that your boyfriend should know about a former lover that might show up again?"

"My past is my business!" She snapped at him, then calmed herself. "Ron, I thought I'd never see him again, so I didn't want to bring it up. Look at how you're reacting! Can you blame me for trying to keep this in the past, where it belongs?"

"But when you saw him, you hugged him," Ron protested. "It's like you're still fond of him."

"I __am__ fond of him," Kim told him. "As in someone from my past who I have no intention of pursuing any sort of romantic relationship with, or even meeting again. You're still on good terms with Zita, you even meet up in cyberspace for those online adventuring games. I trust you, so why can't you trust me?"

"Because you're who you are!" He suddenly snapped, making Kim glad that all of the walls were soundproofed, due to her brothers' experiments.

"What?"

"Kim, you're incredibly beautiful," he told her. "You turn heads at school and on the missions. Heck, you even had the Oh Boys fawning over you. I know I should trust you but you don't have the same issue with me. There's no cute girls trying to meet me or getting all tongue-tied when they see me. That's the reason I'm jealous, I know that I'll never get that sort of a reaction from you, or any girl. It isn't easy for me knowing that hottie guys, the sort that have girls going nuts over them, are going nuts over you."

"So what am I supposed to do?" She demanded. "Change who I am? I'm not going to wear an ugly mask, or something like that! I'm not going to stop doing the missions! I'm who I am and that never bothered you for twelve years of us being friends. It never bothered you for over a half a year of us being boyfriend and girlfriend! How does finding out about Chase change that?"

"Because now I know that you'll do more that just go a little brain-dead over a hottie," he answered back. "Okay, so you and Josh weren't official when you had your fling, but you sure wanted it to be official! You wanted to be his girlfriend but you slept with someone you didn't even know!"

"I wanted to be his girlfriend, but I wasn't!" She snapped back at him. "I _am_ your girlfriend and that's a big difference!"

He didn't seem to have an answer to that, so she calmed herself, got up and put an arm around his shoulders. "Chase was my past," she assured him. "Yes, I had a fling but I'm not about to throw away a boyfriend on a fling. We're an item, I proudly say that I'm your girlfriend, that you're my boyfriend. I don't know what I'm supposed to do to make you understand that. I love you and I'm not about to let my past come back and ruin this."

"Maybe it's all my issue," Ron admitted. "It just came out of nowhere, and knowing that it happened so fast with you..."

"Maybe I should have told you," she admitted. "That wasn't a good way of finding out. And I'll admit that he was being a jerk to you by calling you a loser and throwing things."

"So, do you have any other secrets that I should know?"

"No," she shook her head. "Do you?"

"Me?" He gave himself a dismissive wave. "No."

"So where does that leave us?" She asked.

"I want to be your boyfriend, if you still want me after this." he told her.

"Of course I do!"

"Then I just have to deal with the fact that I have a gorgeous and famous girlfriend," he offered a weak smile.

"So we act like we're boyfriend and girlfriend," she told him. "I want you stopping by to walk to school with me. I want you to hold my hand and sneak kisses whenever possible, okay?"

"Okay," he chuckled a little. "It's late, so I better get home if I'm going to be back in time for school."

He rose and turned to the window, but she caught his shoulder and cleared her throat, meaningfully.

"What did we just talk about?" she asked him, in mock anger. "You're about to leave your girlfriend for the night."

"I thought I had made you mad at me," he leaned towards her.

"You did, but we dealt with it," she assured him. She put a little extra passion into their goodnight kiss, hopefully letting him know that she was serious about not being mad at him. As she closed her window after he slipped out, she knew that he wasn't exactly happy with the sitch and that she wasn't happy that he was still peeved. What was she supposed to do about this?

Well, sometimes a girl just had to talk to a friend. Sure, Monique was a queen of gossip, but to be a queen of gossip, you had to know when to keep your mouth shut. It was either that or talk to her mother and she didn't want to do that. Besides, Monique wasn't going to be happy until she learned something.

* * *

Even a school as busy as Middleton High had its unoccupied spaces at certain times of the day; certain classrooms weren't used for every class period, the gym didn't always have people in it and various support spaces, such as supply closets and utility rooms could be occupied or not. While Kim didn't consider herself a sneak, she had learned the value of finding out which spaces were available and when. A quick check of her and Monique's schedules let her know when to talk and referencing her list of available spaces let her know where to set up the meeting. Therefore, upon reaching school on Tuesday morning, after walking there hand-in-hand with her boyfriend, she was able to request a time and place from her friend.

The morning went well; even if Ron wasn't as much fun to be around as he was last week, it was better than yesterday, so Kim wrote that up as progress towards catching up. Other students seem to note that she and Ron were associating again, and her fellow cheerleaders looked relieved at that. Even Bonnie had gotten the message, as she was back to bragging about her boyfriend off in the Mediterranean and not about the problems that K and the loser were having. Things were looking good when third period arrived. While Ron left for his Health Class, Kim, with the time free, slipped off to the now deserted Home Ec Classroom.

It was almost sad, the lonely mixers and food processors, waiting for someone to show up and use them to turn flour, sugar, eggs and other things into food. It seemed that nobody felt up to try to match the legacy of Ron and Rufus. Her melancholy didn't last long, as Monique quickly arrived.

"Okay, you seem to be patching things up," Kim's friend told her. "But I can tell it isn't all patched up yet."

"Uncanny," Kim noted.

"Hey, I'm the one in the know. You promised to tell me what was up, so spill."

"Okay, but this goes no farther than the two of us," Kim informed her.

"Of course."

Taking a deep breath, Kim told her about her last evening at Wannaweep, then the game last week, then the talk with Ron on Saturday. She finished with them talking the previous night. While Monique's eyes flew wide a couple of times, she held her tongue until the redhead was finished. "So that puts us here," Kim concluded. "I can understand that Ron might be disappointed that I...well..."

"Came into the boyfriend/girlfriend thing with an experience that he didn't have?" Monique supplied.

"That's a diplomatic way of putting it," Kim nodded. "But yes. I still don't know why he's upset with me and I don't know how to fix this."

"Okay, let's not worry about Ron just now," Monique told her. "I'm more concerned with you. That quick fling just doesn't seem the way you operate."

"Well...it just seemed to happen," Kim told her. "I'm not about to do something like that again but..."

"You're not about to regret it," Monique finished. "As long as it was what you wanted, that's up to you. Here's the first question: You are about the most wired in, most mobile teen in the world. What happened between you and Chase after that?"

"It's not as easy for me to get around as you think," Kim sighed. "Sure, I have plenty of favors to call in, but there are certain reporters who recognize me, the tweebs hack my social media and my email on a regular basis, and Wade keeps track of my movements. If anyone made some guesses and it got back to my father..."

"Enough said," Monique flinched at the possibilities. "So what happened."

"A couple of weeks after the competition, I volunteered to make a motivational speech to middle school girls in Southville. Since I had a reason to go there, nobody batted an eye when I called in a favor for the trip. It was a three day event, for me. I got there the first day and met with the group that had set up the event. The second day was spent giving the motivational speeches and the third day was the trip back. On the day after the speeches, the organization set up a dinner for me. Nobody batted an eye when I invited the Central High Squad, who had been competing against me just a couple of weeks before this, to the event."

"I think I know where this is going," Monique commented.

"After the dinner, I was able to get alone with Chase," Kim recounted. "He was scared; he made an assumption that when I wanted to talk to him a couple of weeks after our tryst, it meant that there was a consequence to our actions."

"Okay, that's one of the things that had me surprised," Monique admitted. "I didn't think either of you would have been...prepared...that night in the boathouse."

"I've been on the pill since shortly after starting the missions," Kim told her. "Mom wanted me to have protection in case...something bad...happened. After I got with Ron, she admitted that she sometimes wondered that with all the time we spent traveling to and from the missions, especially on the way home and hyped up on adrenaline and endorphins from a job well done..."

"Something could happen," Monique nodded. "Anyway..."

"So there I was with him," she continued. "In a really nice hotel room. It had been a couple of weeks..."

"Absence makes the heart grow stronger," Monique quoted, when Kim hesitated.

"Yeah," she nodded. "But afterwards, we really had the chance to talk. We were both in school and a few hundred miles away from each other. We...kind of had different ideas of what it meant to be a boyfriend and girlfriend...at least as teens."

"You don't have to go into detail," Monique told her.

"That was when I realized that I wanted something like the stereotypical teen romance," Kim continued. "I wanted the hand-holding and hanging out at the mall. I wanted nacos and a movie, along with the occasional dress-up dinner. I wanted joking and flirting; I wanted acting silly, playful roughhousing and heated make-out sessions, knowing that they weren't going to go any farther; at least not for some time."

"So you broke it off and you both moved on," Monique concluded. "Tell me about Ron finding out," she prompted, when Kim nodded.

Kim described the game at Southville, her minor date with Ron the next day, the argument and the talk the previous night. For a short time, Monique just looked at her, clearly organizing her thoughts.

"Okay, that caught Ron off guard," Monique finally told her. "What you tell anybody about your past is your business, but how long have you been dating Ron now, just under half a year?"

"Five months and two weeks," Kim answered.

"I have to agree with Ron, at least a little," Monique told her. "Telling your current about an ex isn't something you say on a first date but by now, I would have told my current boyfriend that I didn't just have an ex, I had an Ex."

"It never came up," Kim protested.

"Hey, it's your decision," Monique held her hands up, assuring her friend that she had her back in this. "I'm just saying the way I would have handled it."

"Got it," Kim nodded.

"The next thing was you sticking up for the guy," Monique told her. "I've seen it and Ron's seen it; when you're crushing on a guy, you don't let any bad words about him go unchallenged. Telling Ron that Chase wasn't a jerk clued him in that you had feelings for him, and that you maybe still do."

"I'm fond of him," Kim told her. "He isn't a bad guy."

"No, he isn't," Monique agreed. "He spent a couple of nights with the famous Kim Possible and he kept his mouth shut about it. That's good. He apologized to Ron, that's good. But he called Ron a loser and threw a plum at him, that's not so good. Not contacting Ron to apologize for over a year, only doing it when it was convenient, that's not so good. Ron had every reason to hate him and if you ask me, shaking his hand and accepting the apology was a class move on Ron's part."

"So, what are you getting at?"

"You were still overlooking Chase's negatives and sticking up for him," Monique explained. "That's something you do with guys you're crushing on. You did it with Eric, you did it with Hirotaka, but you've never done it with Ron."

"I stick up for him!" Kim protested.

"I know you do," Monique put her hands up again. "But you don't overlook Ron's negatives; you accept them, you take the bad with the good. If I were him, I'd be feeling a little defensive if my girlfriend wouldn't allow any bad words about her ex, even when he earned them, but she doesn't cover for my flaws."

"Is there anything else?" Kim asked, even though she looked less than convinced with what her friend had told her.

"I'm your friend," Monique told her. "And while you're my close friend, Ron isn't all that far behind. I really want the two of you to make it but you have to understand something from Ron's point of view; he realizes that he's dating way out of his league."

"There is no such thing!" Kim snarled. "We went through that when he was crushing on Zita!"

"But wasn't it while he was crushing on her that he told you that the two of you might date someday, and you shot him down?"

"Well..." Kim didn't like the memory.

"Like it or not, some people are more desirable than others," Monique explained. "You're near the top of the rankings and he's somewhere around the middle. Now, this isn't any sort of criticism on you; you've found someone who makes you happy and that's a good thing. But he's aware, every day, that there's guys a lot more desirable than him that are going to be looking at you and you have a past of ignoring him when that happens."

"But..."

"...**But** you're dating him now," Monique interrupted Kim's attempt to interrupt her. "I know...but I have to agree with him that for all practical purposes, you were dating Josh."

"When does the occasional date make you a couple?" Kim asked her. "I wanted to be Josh's girlfriend, but was I? He hadn't asked me on a date, other than a school dance, before that competition. Sure, I was crushing on him, I'll admit it, but that didn't make me his girlfriend."

"We may have to agree to disagree on that," Monique told her. "Still, Ron knows you were crushing on Josh and you still had your fling with Chase, that makes him nervous."

"So what do I do?" Kim asked.

"You're at least playing the part of a couple," Monique said. "That's a whole lot better than the silent treatment. If I were you, I'd just let him know how special he is to you, whenever you get the chance."

"And he doesn't have to do the same for me?" Kim grumbled.

"Earlier this year, he thought you wanted a jock, so he became a jock. Then you were tired of coupons or Bueno Nacho every date, so he got a job. I'd say he's changed himself to be what you wanted. That should tell you that you're special to him."

"Yeah, I never thought of that," Kim admitted.

"So just keep with him, let him know that you're his and he's yours, let him know that being his girlfriend is special to you and it should all work out," Monique told her.

"Thanks, Mon, I owe you."

"Hey, just let me know how it's working for you."

The two girls left on good terms, with Kim a great deal happier. Monique, however, decided that she might have to dig into this a little more. She wasn't lying when she told Kim that she was rooting for her and Ron. The two had become easier to get along with once they started dating and she wanted to see her friends happy. However, there were at least two sides to every story and as much as she thought she had Ron's attitude pegged, she wasn't completely sure. Of course, being the self-appointed maven of gossip meant that she knew who could be found and where. It was time to catch Ron and learn his point of view.

* * *

While he wasn't exactly happy with the sitch, there really was nothing to do about it. Kim had done what she had done, he wasn't happy about it, he wasn't happy that she hadn't told him about it...and she knew that he was upset and she didn't fully understand why. He was in love with her, and he knew that. They were at least acting like a couple and maybe that would help things work out.

Of course, maybe he was overreacting to the sitch. He could use some advice but he didn't know who to talk to. Adults were out of the question...anything that he said to his folks would find its way to her folks and if she didn't want her parents to know, he was going to respect that decision. It also didn't seem the thing to talk to another teen about; Kim didn't want it known so he wasn't about to be the one to spread the tale. The only thing he could think to do was to keep on keeping on and hope for the best.

Last year, during his afternoon free period, he would either take a nap or snack on some Bueno Nacho he had sneaked into the school. This year, Mr. Barkin was keeping an even closer eye on him, so he did one of the few activities that the coach considered worthy of one of one of his players; he played basketball against Felix. Unfortunately, his friend and resident genius was working on something for the science club, which left him shooting baskets by himself. Thus, when Monique showed up and demanded that he follow her off to a seldom-used corridor, where they wouldn't be overheard, he was happy for the distraction. He quickly became nervous at the subject of conversation.

"She already told me everything," Monique told him. "I think you're overreacting but I want to hear your side of the story."

"That's Kim's private business," Ron protested.

"Her side of the story was her private business," Monique told him. "I want your side...and this is in complete confidentiality."

And suddenly, he wanted to talk. Being able to express his feelings to someone who wouldn't tell him he was wrong, or at least not right out of hand, seemed to be a relief. He told her. He told her about Wannaweep and the frustration of knowing that Gil was up to something but that nobody, including the teammates that he had rescued but a year previously, would believe him. He told her about having to hide from the competitors, including Chase. He told her about finding the grotto with the toxic waste and how tempted he had been to simply leave; to walk away and let everyone who had scorned him suffer the fate he had been trying to save them from. Then he told her about thinking of Kim, his lifelong friend who would be in danger, and jumping into the glowing goo.

He didn't talk much about the fight against Gill; as they had talked about it several times in the past. Instead, he talked about the game, about knowing that Central was one of the squads that had hated on him back at Wannaweep and so he decided that his revenge was going to be to take away all hope of a victory on the field. He told about Chase showing up to apologize after the game, and how tempted he had been to just turn away and leave the older boy standing with his hand outstretched, yet taking his hand in the end because he was still the only one from the Central Squad to show up and apologize. Then, it came time to talk about the next day.

"She told me he wasn't a jerk," Ron grumbled. "Even though the called me a loser and threw things at me. That's evidence of jerkhood. Then she tried to tell me I had the wrong person. Then she pointed out that a lot of people were calling me names and throwing things at me." He shook his head. "I knew why she must have been sticking up for him, but I wanted her to admit it. I didn't realize that what I was thinking didn't go far enough."

"Ron..." as much as Monique had struggled to get him to talk, she now wanted him to stop before he worked himself back into a depression.

"One of the bullies who was making my life hell," he grumbled. "Because he was cute and charming..."

"Ron!" Monique was a little more forceful. "This isn't accomplishing anything!" To her pleasant surprise, he shut up.

"The important thing is to put this past you so the two of you can get together," she explained. "You're both my friends and you're happier when you're a couple."

"Is she happier?" Ron asked. "She's never gone nuts over me the way she has over Mankey, Eric and...Chase."

"Hey, take it from me, she's big time into you," she assured him. "Maybe she doesn't show it in the same way, because the two of you have so much history together. I know she isn't getting tongue-tied and nervous around you, but that's because she already knows you. Now, it doesn't matter if she got with Chase a couple of times before, she's with you now..."

"A couple of times?" Ron was both confused and getting angry again.

"I mean, when she went to Southville a couple of weeks after Wannaweep," Monique told him. "She was seeing if things would work out, and that means that she wants..."

"That's where she went that weekend?" Ron asked, his face clearly recalling past events. "She told me that she was giving motivational speeches, so she wouldn't need me along..."

"She didn't tell you?" Monique gasped. "Ron! You have to forget this! Forget I told you this! She'll tell you when she thinks..."

"When she thinks it's okay for me to know," Ron finished for her. "I'm not that smart, but even I can figure that out."

"But that's because you're so important to her!" Monique insisted.

"At least for right now," Ron grumbled.

"Ron, don't do something foolish," she begged him. "The two of you are good for each other. Don't throw it away because of a misunderstanding."

Ron just looked at her for a short time, then released a deep breath. "I won't do anything stupid," he finally told her.

"Bad choice of words on my part," she admitted. "Just think about what you're going to do, don't do something you'll regret later." She sighed in relief. "And don't tell her that I told you what she told me."

"My lips are sealed," he assured her. "Now, I have to get dressed for class."

He still had a few minutes, but Monique could take the hint. He wanted to be alone for a bit to figure out what to do about what he had learned. She made a mental note to keep an eye on him for the next few days...as if she wasn't going to be doing it anyway...and left him.

* * *

He had promised to not do anything rash, but he hadn't promised to not do anything. Through afternoon classes, football practice and his evening shift at Smartymart, he thought about what he could do. Then, when just about finished with his shift, he saw a coworker filling out an on-line college application in the break room. The germ of an idea formed in his mind and it grew during his scooter ride home.

Once home, he sat at his computer, wondering if he should go through with this. It was Kim's private life, but that part of her private life was now linked with his...or at least it was supposed to be...now that he was her boyfriend. There was a very good chance that he wasn't going to like what he learned...but better he learn it now. In the end, it was for them; it was to find out if she really wanted to be his girlfriend or if he was just some sort of contingency plan.

A quick web search found Granite Peak State's website. A little poking around told him about the sort of degrees that it offered and, more importantly, that it had a football team. Soon, he was at the Athletic Department's page. Okay, they weren't exactly a football powerhouse, but maybe that was even better. He hit the "Contact Us" icon and paused one last time, considering if he should do this or not. Finally, he steeled his resolve and started typing.

_Dear Athletic Department: _

_My name is Ron Stoppable and I'm a senior at Middleton High School in Middleton, Colorado. Upon reviewing your university's website, I am very interested in applying to your institution next year. At the risk of sounding immodest, I have had a great deal of success on the football field and I would like to see if I can take this success to the collegiate level at your institution. I am including a link to my high school's athletic site. My coach, Mr. Barkin, has assured me that he is willing to provide honest appraisals of all of his players. I can promise you that he will not exaggerate my ability in any way. Finally, my school will be playing its last regular season game this Friday, and you can praise my performance on the school's website. _

_If possible, I would like to visit your campus and meet with you in person. I can provide my own transportation on very short notice, but I would prefer a weekend, if that is convenient for you. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience._

_Ronald Dean Stoppable._

He hit the send button; and now there was no turning back. There was one other person who knew the whole story of the Kim/Chase sitch, so it was only a matter of tracking him down and having a word with him.

* * *

_A/N: As always, big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	3. Chapter 3

"Stoppable, my office, now!"

Ron wracked his brain, trying to come up with why Barkin wanted to have a word with him. The last three nights had seen him work out hard; partly to make an impression this game and partially to cover up that he was feeling more and more awkward around Kim. He was planning on going behind her back and he had never been good at lying, or even falling short of full disclosure with her. She seemed to accept his explanation that he was working out to enhance his scholarship chances, but she was clearly concerned about the boyfriend/girlfriend sitch. They were going to have to face things and he wanted to have the full story before that happened. However, nothing was going to happen if he didn't get Barkin off of his neck, so he delayed the shower and made his way to the big man's office.

"Stoppable," Barkin greeted him. "Close the door, I will not mince words."

Ron did as instructed and took a chair, wondering when Barkin had ever minced words.

"I recently received a request from Granite Peak State University," the coach announced. "It seems that one Coach Roughman received some correspondence from you, showing an interest in his institution of higher learning and in his team. Is this correct?"

"That's correct, Coach B," Ron told him.

"Tell me why you chose to make this request to this particular institution."

"Well, Mr. B, I checked out the college on their website," Ron told him. "The courses offered seem to match what I want to study and they have football scholarships to help me with the expenses."

Barkin steepled his hands in front of his face and glared at the teen, holding his silence long enough for Ron to start squirming.

"I don't know if I should believe you or not," he finally admitted. "Stoppable, I know all about your tendency to become arrogant when you experience even the glimmerings of success, so I do not lightly choose to make this revelation. Stoppable, you can do much better than a minor scholarship at a university such as Granite Peak State."

"Mr. B?"

"Granite Peak State has de-emphasized football," the coach explained. "Which means that the scholarships available do not completely cover the costs you will experience in your pursuit of a degree."

"Well, it still seems like a good school," Ron protested.

"I have already fielded inquiries from better schools, with better football programs," Barkin told him. "In fact, the only reason you haven't heard directly from recruiters is that I have asked them to not contact you during the football season. It pains me to say this, Stoppable, but the only reason several Division 1 programs are not planning on offering you a scholarship is due to the fact that you are a first year player."

"I don't understand the issue," Ron admitted. "I mean, what difference will it make to you and to Middleton where I go?"

"A legitimate question," Barkin nodded. "The fact is that recruiting collegiate athletes is not a precise science. The recruiters look at records and statistics, then they observe the players. Time for such observations is limited, so recruiters compensate for this by concentrating their searches on the high schools that have produced capable athletes in the past. Now, should you take this offer and accept a scholarship with GPS, you will most likely go on to impress those schools in its conference, resulting in a great deal of interest, from universities with weak athletic programs, to be expressed in Middleton High. On the other hand, if you manage to make the team of a more prestigious program, this will generate interest from better programs, directed at Middleton. Your underclassmen teammates will benefit for years."

"Mr. B, I'd still like to make the visit to GPS," Ron protested.

"I insist that you do," Barkin told him. "Once you make the request, honor demands that you make the visit, should it be offered. However, I will only recommend your visit to Coach Roughman under the stipulation that you accept visits from more prestigious programs, once they become available."

"Can do, Mr. B."

"Good. Coach Roughman has asked if you can make it to the institution by nine AM this Saturday. Are you capable of being there?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I don't have work this Saturday and I'm sure Wade can scare up a ride. It's a good cause, so he shouldn't have a problem."

"Very well," now, Barkin looked at him closely again. "Stoppable, even though you are using your own transportation, you will still be representing this school and this team. I need to go over a few things."

"Got it."

"First, a game day visit is a rare honor," Barkin told him. "Coaches will be trying to make last-minute preparations for the game, so taking the time to visit a potential recruit shows just how serious he is about signing you. This will probably mean that you will be introduced to very generous team supporters, who will try to overwhelm you with kindness. Keep an even keel; I will provide you with a list of gifts that it is proper for you to accept. Do not take anything not specifically listed."

"Understood," Ron offered a salute.

"Never salute from a seated position," Barkin told him. "Now, on the subject of being overwhelmed. The school will undoubtedly appoint a guide for you, someone who will meet you and show you around the campus, making sure you get to the proper places at the proper times."

"That makes sense."

"This guide will most likely be a pretty girl in her freshman or sophomore year, conveniently close to your own age," Barkin offered a slight smirk. "I know that you and Possible are having some romantic difficulties, so don't let this cloud your judgment when you interact with this guide and when you choose to accept a scholarship with this institution or not."

Ron could only stare at the coach, open-mouthed.

"I've been an educator for several years, Stoppable," Barkin now showed a smug grin. "I've seen plenty of lovers' spats over that time. However, I must tell you to not make any rash decisions due to your current situation with Possible. Don't accept a spot on GP's roster just because you're feeling disoriented. No matter how effectively this girl bats her eyelashes, no matter how friendly and generous the people seem, no matter how much the team seems to want to welcome you into their ranks, tell them that you have other colleges to consider. They will understand, as they have other applicants to consider."

"Got it."

"Now, and most importantly, do not allow this visit to affect your concentration for tomorrow's game. A victory tomorrow night and we will host a playoff game next week. A victory will enhance your standing among other potential recruiters. This will mean visits to more prestigious teams, who will greet you with even more generous boosters and even prettier girls to show you around the campus. Not only that, but some more of your teammates might get the rare opportunity to experience the VIP treatment. Now, hit the showers, you stink like an open cesspool."

Ron didn't need any further encouragement. The first part of his plan had worked out fine, but now he needed Wade to come through for him and he needed the boy to not suspect what he was really up to. While Wade didn't know him as well as Kim did, and Ron found it easier to stretch the truth over a computer or a phone than he did in person, Wade was smart enough that trying deception was a bad idea. Fortunately, Ron had managed to hone his story a little bit since sending GPS his application.

It was another Smartymart work shift that night, putting in a little time to keep his weekend clear. His shift gave him the chance to work on his story, so he was ready by the time his shift came to an end and he was home again. He felt a little guilty about calling Wade late at night, but the boy always seemed to be awake, anyway. He felt more guilty about lying to him, but he remembered why he was doing it and his reservations dried up considerably.

"What's up, Ron," Wade's image appeared on Ron's computer screen, mere moments after Ron sent the message.

"Wade, I need a favor," Ron told him. "I have a visit available to..."

"Granite Peak State," Wade finished.

"How can you know?" Ron demanded.

"I like to know everything," Wade buffed his fingernails on his shirt. "Let me guess, you'd like a ride to get there Saturday morning."

"Uncanny," Ron commented.

"Already set up," Wade assured him. "But you're going to have to parachute in."

"Sacrifices must be made, I guess."

"Anything else?" The boy appeared to be eager to have something to do.

"Actually, yes," Ron told him. "I know that the school is going to assign people to talk to me, people who will sort of gloss over any less than great aspects to the school and its football team. I'd like to sidestep that and talk to someone who's job isn't to make me sign."

"Are you feeling well?" Wade asked him. "That makes sense."

"Ha! Ha!" Ron hoped the boy had enough social skills to recognize the sarcasm in his voice. "Anyway, last week, we played against Central High in Southville. I recognized one of the Central Alumni from the cheer competition back at Wannaweep. I think his name is Chase and I'd like to know if he's on the GPS cheer squad."

"Give me a minute," Ron watched as Wade worked calmly, yet unbelievably fast, at his keyboard. "Here we are, one Chase Ziemlich, from that very school. He's enrolled and...yes, he's on the squad."

"Great!" Ron took a deep breath. "He...wasn't very kind to me during the competition, so I'm pretty sure he won't feed me some line to try to get me to the school. Can you see if you can arrange a meeting with him after the game, but before my ride back to Middleton?"

"I'll be able to hack his phone," Wade said, confidently.

"Make it alone," Ron requested. "And once the meeting is set, please don't listen in. I'm using him for information, so I don't want to repay him by letting someone eavesdrop...even if he was a jerk to me."

"I'm sure I can set it up by Saturday," Wade assured him. "Actually, this works out great. There's a shipment coming in to Club Banana this Saturday."

"The sort that Monique needs a little help unloading?" Ron asked him. "As in the sort that lets Kim pick up a couple of hours of work?"

"Exactly. This way, since you'll be out of town, Kim will have something to do."

"You know Wade, sometimes things really do work out well, don't they?"

* * *

Cindy Grouse hated this job. Okay, it wasn't so much a job as a volunteer assignment that went towards her work study, and thus was easier than most of the actual jobs she had to do, like sweeping the gym and cleaning the weight machines that were just oozing with sweat. On the other hand, on a day like today, working inside would be better than working outside.

She checked her watch again; this new pre-frosh...no, strike that...potential frosh, was supposed to show up in another ten minutes or so. Once he did, it was her job to to convey him quickly and efficiently to Coach Roughman, then show him to the game, buy him a hot dog and some popcorn, then show him around the campus as he saw fit, all with a bright smile and adoring expression on her face.

Okay, maybe it wasn't all that bad. Of the three recruits she had shown around before this, two had been polite young men who were interested in playing football and studying at Granite Peak State. It had actually been pleasant to show them around the campus. The third one, on the other hand, knew that he was a handsome and athletic young man and thought that this entitled him to his own, personal groupie. That experience had left her longing for the broom and rag and so far, standing outside on a cold morning, this experience was leaving her with the same longing.

Where was the potential frosh?

A small airplane, flying considerably lower than most aircraft, swept over the campus, taking her attention away from her unpleasant task. A figure jumped out of it; even from the distance and over the sound of the vehicle's engine, she could hear a scream of terror. She was about to join her voice to express horror, sure that she was about to see someone smash onto the ground, but a parachute emerged as the airplane flew away. The parachutist, now silent, glided in a wide arc that ended with him descending directly towards her.

It wasn't a completely graceful landing. He stumbled and fell when his feet hit the ground, but he performed an agile tuck and roll, winding up on his feet directly in front of her. She simply stood, open mouthed, staring as he bundled the cloth into a loose mass and pulled off his helmet and goggles.

"Oh hi," the revealed young, blonde man greeted her. "You must be here to meet me."

"Huh?" She asked, still trying to get over the shock of having a young man, suddenly drop by.

"That marker board you're carrying," he pointed to the object in her hands. "It has my name on it. I guess that either means that you're waiting for me, or we have the same name and you like to advertise it."

"Oh!" She finally put thought and speech together. "But...you parachuted in!"

"Yeah, the rides that Wade scares up always seem to work out that way," he told her. "We always take off on a plane but we never seem to be able to land on one. I guess it saves time but I really hate free-fall. How about you?

"I...uh...I don't jump."

"I envy you," he told her, grabbing her hand and shaking it. "I'd suggest you continue with that. Skydiving isn't as much fun as it seems. So, you're the guide here. Should we meet with Coach Roughman or do we have time to grab a cup of hot chocolate before we see him? I could use something to settle my nerves."

"Me too," she finally managed a coherent sentence. "By the way, I'm Cindy Grouse. The student union's over this way and there's a coffee shop inside. They make hot chocolate."

"Good," he finished tucking the parachute into some sort of bag. "I'd grab a cup of coffee but me and caffeine don't agree with each other. Oh, my manners, nice to meet you." He offered his hand again and this time, she took it.

Leading the way to the coffee shop, she suspected that this wasn't going to be a boring assignment.

* * *

"So, how are things going?" Monique asked her redhead friend, as the two hauled armload after armload of winter fashions from the back room and to Club Banana's sales shelves. As much as she wanted to find out the situation between her friend and her other friend, she was serious about her job. Any investigation...some purists might call it snooping...couldn't interfere with the work.

"Better," Kim told her, stacking warm tops, sorted by size, onto the shelves. "Did you catch the game last night?"

"Your boyfriend put up some good numbers again, Middleton won, so we have a home playoff game next week."

"That must have impressed somebody," Kim told her. "When Ron got out of the locker room, he told me that he had just gotten a call from a college in Arizona. He's been invited to meet the coach today, so he called in a favor for the trip. He was in a very good mood last night."

"So what do you do with a boyfriend in a good mood?"

"After a game isn't the time for a proper date," Kim answered. "So we just caught some Bueno Nacho and chilled at my house."

"Just how chill did you get?"

"Monique!" Kim paused a moment to give her friend an arch look. "Why the sudden interest in my dating life?"

"I just want to know how well the two of you are putting this little spat behind you." Monique told her. "And I'll admit to a certain voyeuristic curiosity."

"Well you're just going to be disappointed...mostly." Kim insisted. "My mother dragged my father and brothers out to dinner and left the two of us alone in the house. It was a little awkward but we started kissing a little and that led to a little necking on the couch. It was a little awkward, since we were fighting just a little while ago, but it went well...until the 'rents got back home."

"Well, getting the two of you back together and feeling romantic should take care of things," Monique smiled at her friend...who was technically her employee at the moment. "The two of you are really into each other."

Satisfied, at least for the moment, Monique curbed her nosiness until they had the latest fashions on the proper shelves and racks, and the not-so-latest fashions in the bargain bins. She contented herself with talking about the clothes whenever they passed by each other, commenting on what was cold and what was too focused on looking good to be proper wear for a Colorado Winter. She also asked her friend about her squad and how it was shaping up for the competition season. Finally, they were finished with a half-hour left before the rest of the employees were scheduled to show up.

One of the coffee kiosks had learned that it was a good idea to open before the mall, as employees from the various stores liked their shot of caffeine before their customers arrived. Monique decided to give her temporary employee a treat before she left for the day. While Kim helped stock the shelves on some weekends, she wasn't on the sales staff. Monique wasn't about to cash in on her friend's fame to make more sales. Soon, the young women were back at Club Banana, standing well away from the merchandise and drinking their potentially staining beverages.

"Kim, I'm going to ask you a personal question," Monique mentioned, after checking to make sure that none of the other staff had shown up yet. "If you don't want to answer, just tell me."

"Okay," Kim tilted her head slightly. "Let's hear it.

"How long did it take you and Ron to get intimate?"

Kim took a long, deliberate sip of coffee and set the cup down, fixing her friend with a piercing gaze. "Before I answer that...if I answer that...I want to know why you're asking."

"Just trying to get a grip on why Ron overreacted as bad as he did."

Kim continued to stare at her friend. Finally, "we haven't taken that step yet."

Monique didn't say anything, but her eyes went wide.

"What?" Kim demanded.

"As close as the two of you are, all the opportunities with all the missions you go on, you've been a couple for almost half a year and you haven't..."

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Kim asked, then her eyes flew wide and she glared at her friend. "Is this it? Just because I had a fling with Chase means I'm supposed to have sex with any boyfriend right away?"

"Chillax, girlfriend, I'm not saying that," Monique tried to calm her down. "But that's something that Ron has to be wondering; what is it that made you sleep with Chase just after meeting him but the two of you still haven't gotten naked with each other after half a year?"

"So now I'm some sort of prize?" Kim snapped at her. "I'm supposed to be on some sort of schedule? A boyfriend can only measure how much I'm into him by how long it takes to get in my pants?"

"No!" Monique insisted. "When and if you take that step is up to you and the boy! I'm just saying that the fact that you two haven't taken that step might make Ron wonder if you really want him."

"Oh, so now I can only show that I want a boyfriend by sleeping with him?" Kim, now on her feet, yelled at her friend. "Ron and I are in love, and there's a whole lot more to it that working up to the point where we do the deed!"

"Kim..." Monique tried to calm her friend, yet again, to assure her that she wasn't questioning her morals or worth, but a chime from the back door announced that someone was coming in.

"I think this conversation is over," Kim's voice was icy. The redhead got to her feet and stalked out of the store.

"Ron, I sure hope you're the perfect boyfriend when you get back tonight," Monique sighed. "'Cuz I think I just put your girlfriend on a hair trigger."

* * *

Ron had never realized how rough cheerleaders had it. When he was the mascot, he could grimace and pant for air inside the mad dog head, and nobody would ever know about it. As a football player, he could show pain or anger. Cheerleaders had to keep the bright smile on their faces, to make everyone believe that they were behind the team and enjoying themselves, even when exhausted, dejected or hurting. Now, Ron found himself playing a role.

He did his best to act interested during his meeting with Coach Roughman. That wasn't so hard, as he had rehearsed a little before jumping out of the aircraft. He was honest with the stern man, admitting that this, his senior year, was his first year of high school football. The coach was also honest, admitting that while he didn't like the idea of offering a scholarship to a one year player, especially one as small as Ron, the boy's speed and stats made him interested. Then, it was time for the coach to return to his team, for the last minute preparations for their game. This left Ron back in Cindy's care, and it was where the real challenge began. He had to act interested in the game, but he was really interested in the cheerleading squad.

Or, more to the point, he was interested in one particular cheerleader. He quickly recognized Chase and tried to observe him while not looking like he was observing him. He noted that the slightly older man seemed to be popular on the squad, talking and joking with the other cheerleaders between routines. He was also friendly towards the other school's squad and even people in the stands.

"It's not unusual for potential recruits to look at the cheerleaders," Cindy commented, from next to him. "But you seem to be more interested in them than the game."

"Call it professional curiosity," Ron answered, embarrassed at having been caught. "I was my high-school's mascot before becoming the running back this year."

Cindy gave him an odd look, but seemed satisfied with the explanation. Having been caught, Ron spent the second half watching the game and, to his surprise, found himself enjoying it and being intrigued by it. Even at a school that did not emphasize its football team, the difference between the collegiate level and the high school level was telling. The players were all bigger and faster, the game was more complex but Ron could tell that he would still have a speed and elusiveness advantage.

With a few minutes left in the game, Cindy ushered him down towards the sidelines, where he could speak to Coach Roughman as he left the field. Ron understood the unspoken implications; the coach meeting with him shortly before and then immediately after a game meant that he was serious about recruiting him. Ron felt a little guilty that he wasn't really interested in this school.

"So, want to head to the cafeteria and grab a meal?" Cindy asked him. "It's on the school and I can introduce you to some of my friends. Also, some of the graduates that still follow the team would love to talk to you."

"It's a really nice offer," Ron told her, now falling back to the story he had worked out before. "But can I meet you someplace later? I'm not trying to insult you, but I picked out a couple of students at random, and I'd like to talk to them a little."

To his surprise, she actually looked impressed. "In other words, you want to talk to someone who hasn't been coached to sell the school to you," she actually smiled. "Sure, how about the student union in an hour or so?"

"Deal!" He agreed.

Then it was off to a classroom that Wade had already picked out. Somehow, the boy genius had hacked into the systems and unlocked certain doors. Ron became more and more nervous as he walked through the quiet and empty corridors, more nervous than he had ever been sneaking into a lair. When you sneaked into a lair, you knew that things were going to get violent and insulting. Here, he was hoping for no violence but beyond that, he didn't know how he wanted this meeting to pan out. All too soon, he was in front of the door.

"Wade, is he in there?" He asked over his phone.

"He arrived about five minutes ago," Wade confirmed.

"I'm going to need some privacy," Ron told him.

"Got it," Wade answered. "I won't contact you until you leave the room, or if I note someone else approaching."

"Like Kim says, you rock." Taking a deep breath, Ron opened the door.

This wasn't some overly-dramatic movie; the room wasn't dimly lit and the other man wasn't hidden. Instead, it looked like any other college classroom; perhaps forty students' desks faced the front of the room, where a larger desk sat in front of a combination marker board and display screen. Chase was sitting on the instructor's desk, and stood when Ron stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

"Ron Stoppable," the college student greeted him with a nod. "Your tech support man told me that you were interested in learning about this school, but unless you've developed an interest in a quaint, artistic school with a mediocre football team, you're really interested in something else. I think I know what that is."

"So, you've had this sort of a talk before?" Ron asked, approaching the front of the classroom.

"In both your shoes and mine," he confirmed. "Why don't we get the idiotic, testosterone-fueled chest thumping out of the way right now? I'm bigger than you but I'm pretty sure you could clobber me if it came to a fight. Fighting and threatening aren't going to change the past, so why should we bother?"

"It makes sense to me," Ron agreed.

"So, have a seat and let's talk," Chase hopped up onto the instructor's desk again. Ron took a desk in the front row, aware of the symbolism of instructor and student.

"Why don't I start?" Chase told him. "I'm guessing that you found out about your girlfriend ank me, back before she became your girlfriend."

"Right so far," Ron managed to grate out.

"You're angry about this," Chase noted.

"Yes," Ron agreed. "But probably not for the reason that you think."

"Oh, what's the reason?"

"You were a jerk to me back at Wannaweep," Ron pointed out.

"Wannaweep?"

"They renamed the place Gottagrin," Ron explained.

"Okay, I wasn't exactly being a nice guy to you," Chase admitted. "But you have to admit, accusing a fellow camper of trying to become a mutant is a pretty bizarre accusation...even if it turned out to be true."

"Two weeks ago, my team beat your Alma matter," Ron continued. "And you came up an apologized to me. The next day, I told my girlfriend that it felt good to have a jerk admit he was wrong and apologize, even if it was a year after the fact. She insisted that you weren't a jerk. She defended your actions. That led to a conversation, which turned into an argument and that turned into a confession. However, after the two of us put that little issue aside, and started to work towards putting us back together, I found out that she left something out of the confession. I want to find out just how much she left out."

"What difference does it make?" Chase asked.

"I want to know just how much I can trust her," Ron told him.

"If I can believe the news reports, you trust her with your life, quite frequently, just like she trusts you with hers," he pointed out.

"Different rules," Ron told him. "Why don't I just lay it out on the line? My girlfriend has a history of setting me aside when a hottie shows up, and I'll admit that you're a hottie and I'm not. Do I trust her with my life on a mission? Absolutely! Do I trust her to not drop me for a hot guy the moment she sees him? Up until a couple of weeks ago, I did."

"So you're hoping for an answer, one way or another, from me," Chase said. "Okay, I don't know if I can give you the one you want, but I'll tell you everything that happened between me and her. We had our encounter at Gotta...er...Wannaweep." He looked at Ron for a moment before continuing. "Maybe you think I'm a jerk for this attitude, but in the end, it doesn't matter. If I see a pretty girl, I'll chat her up. If she's down for chatting, I'll flirt. If she's into flirting, I'll take it farther, as long as she's down for it. She didn't say anything about having a boyfriend, she wasn't drunk, stoned, or emotionally shook up. Let's face it, if I tried anything she didn't approve of, she could have punched me halfway across that lake. There was nothing wrong with what I did and nothing wrong with what she did."

It didn't feel good hearing this, but Ron couldn't argue. He nodded.

"We didn't have a chance to talk the next day," Case chuckled. "You know why."

Ron couldn't keep from smiling a little. A rampaging mutant was a severe obstacle for boy/girl talks.

"I next heard from her a couple of weeks later," Chase continued. "She let me know that she was going to be in Southville to give motivational speeches to some of the middle school girls. She said that she wanted to see me and I was scared. She had told me that precautions weren't necessary but...well...nothing's perfect and I thought I'd learn that there was going to be consequences to what we had done."

Ron had lost his smile, but couldn't argue. He had asked for disclosure, he couldn't get mad at the guy who was providing it.

"We had a little...reunion," Chase admitted and although Ron didn't like to hear it, he had to admit that he appreciated Chase keeping things a little vague.

"But then, we finally had the chance to really talk," Chase told him. "And that's when we realized that we wanted different things out of a boyfriend/girlfriend sort of thing. She wanted the steady boyfriend thing and, fortunately for both of us, we lived far enough apart that I knew I couldn't be that for her."

"Fortunate?" Ron tried to keep his voice mild, but he was getting angry.

"If we had been closer, I would have tried," he answered. "And I don't think that it would have been good for either of us. I wasn't ready to settle down back then...and I'm still not. I would have tried to be the steady boyfriend and she would have tried to be what I wanted. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have worked out for either of us. Instead, we parted on good terms."

"And you didn't see her again until a couple of weeks ago?" Ron asked.

"Not exactly," Chase replied. "I followed her a little in the press. Believe it or not, I was glad that she found a steady boyfriend, someone who could be to her what I couldn't be. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'm sorry for what happened between her and me; I'm not and I don't see why she should be, either."

"That's all it meant to you?" Ron asked, now feeling his temper rise again. "Just fun while it lasted?"

"Should it be anything more?" Chase sighed. "Ron, think of your football team for a little bit. The lot of you are probably friends and working together always brings people closer. Once this season is over, you and them will probably never play football together, ever again. Are you going to be jealous if some of them go play football with someone else? Should the ones who never play football again be jealous of those of you that make it to another level? Let's say you take an offer and play football for Granite Peak State. Are you going to be angry with your new teammates for having teammates before you? Should your new teammates be angry at you for having teammates before them? Does that make any sense?"

Ron wasn't convinced, so he remained silent.

"Hey, you don't have any reason to trust me, but let me give you a little bit of advice," Chase told him, when Ron didn't say anything. "You and Kim are teenagers, so the chances of you making this last forever are pretty slim. Why let that bother you? If she wanted to be with me, she'd be with me. She's with you because she wants to be with you. Chill out and enjoy it while it lasts. If it comes to an end, when it's over; remember the good times, wish her well, and move on."

"Well, I can't say that this is what I wanted to hear," Ron finally admitted. "Because I really don't know what I wanted to hear. But you were honest, and that is something I wanted."

"Like I said, I've been in your shoes before, and I've been in my shoes before. Are we done here?"

"I guess so," Ron got to his feet and offered him his hand.

"Maybe there's one last little bit of testosterone-fueled idiocy you'd like to get off your chest," Chase suggested, taking Ron's hand. "I know you want to say it."

"Sure," Ron shrugged. "Stay away from my girlfriend, or I'll splatter you across three counties."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." He smiled back. "If you do come to this school, look me up. If we're not fighting each other, we may as well be friends."

"I don't know if I'm really all that interested in this school," Ron admitted.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to have a backup."

"Yeah," Ron grumbled. "Backup."

* * *

Cindy didn't know if she should consider this degrading or not. While Ron's decision to talk to random students had elminated the meetings with generous alumni, the rest of the drill remained unchanged. She invited the potential frosh to dinner with several of her friends. While there would be a mix of boys and girls, there were sure to me more girls and boys, giving the potential frosh the idea that he would encounter an excess of attractive girls should he come to Granite Peak State. The friends she invited got a free meal and they got to meet someone they hadn't before. Yet, she felt that she was compromising something by doing so. Still it wasn't exactly bad; everyone volunteered. The problem was that one of her friends also knew the part to play, asking the pre-frosh about his high school and home life. That was when Cindy suddenly started to feel foolish.

When Suzy asked Ron about what he did outside of school, Ron told her that he enjoyed video games, the Bricks of Fury movie franchise, and that he went on missions with Kim Possible. It wasn't until that moment that the face sitting at the table, inhaling far more food that should have been possible for the small body it rested upon, matched the guy who always seemed to be in the background whenever Possible did an interview.

"I have mad running away skills," Ron told them, in response to Gus' question about how he became a football player. "I've ran away from supervillains, henchmen and everything they could throw at me. After spending a few years dodging death rays and ducking through collapsing lairs, I found out that it wasn't very hard, and was actually kind of fun, to avoid high school football players. Since my mad running away skills actually had a real world application, I went with it."

Some of the other students prompted him to talk about some of the missions, which he did. Soon, Cindy was laughing along with the rest. It wasn't that Ron was good at making a story funny, the situations that he regularly found himself in as Kim Possible's sidekick were so bizarre that they challenged reality...yet he seemed to recall most of them with a smile on his face. Eventually, a chime from his pocket interrupted him.

"Well, my ride back is getting set up," Ron said. "I'm afraid I have to go. It's been great meeting everyone."

"How are you getting back home?" Cindy asked. "Bus, car?"

"Uh, I kind of have to hitch a ride on a passing plane," he told her, examining his phone. "But Wade wasn't able to talk the pilot into landing to pick me up."

"What?"

"It's kind of hard to describe," Ron explained. "But I have to get moving."

"This I have to see," Gus commented, prompting a round of agreement around the table. Soon, they were all following the potential frosh to the main desk in the Student Union Building."

"There should be a package here," Ron explained to the young man on duty. "Delivered for one Ron Stoppable."

"Here it is," the attendant hoisted a large and apparently heavy box onto the counter.

"Thanks," Ron braced the load onto his shoulder. "Could someone get the door for me?"

Curiosity growing, Cindy let Ron out then instructed him how to get to the most open area on the quad. There, Ron opened the box to reveal what looked to be a hybrid between a backpack and a miniature rocket. He put the device on his back and tightened various straps.

"Would someone mind throwing the box away, after I leave?" Ron asked the group. Upon receiving a couple of offers to do so, he continued. "My launch window is coming up. Wade says that it's safe if you stay ten feet away from me. I'd suggest twenty, due to the volume."

"Are you really going to lift off of the ground?" Gus demanded.

"Yes."

"And the rockets won't harm anything around here?" Cindy prompted.

"Wade's good," Ron told her. "Somehow, the exhaust doesn't burn or break things. It's even fairly quiet."

"Then why do we have to stay back because of the volume?"

"Because I'm going to scream my head off," Ron explained. "Twenty seconds."

Glancing nervously at each other, the college students backed away from the high school student. They had some time to wonder if they were being pranked before a chime sounded from Ron's phone, the boy seemed to tense up and a quiet rushing sound came from his pack. A cloud of vapor, accompanied by Ron's shriek, lifted him off the ground and into the air. Cindy noted that a small aircraft was passing overhead and as she watched, Ron intercepted it. The height made it hard to be sure, but she thought she saw the potential frosh climb into the aircraft.

"Is there some way we should check to see if he actually made it?" Gus wondered.

"I don't think so," Cindy answered. "I think that this is just another day for him. Lets throw that box away and go have a drink. I need one."

* * *

_A/N: As always, big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	4. Chapter 4

Hand holding was good. It meant that she and her boyfriend were together again. Okay, they had never been apart, but the misunderstanding was fading. They weren't back to where they had been, but they were heading that way. This was a good thing because she still didn't feel like talking to Monique.

In all honesty, Kim had to admit that she had probably overreacted to what her friend had tried to say back at Club Banana, but she wasn't ready to apologize and talk again...just yet. She knew she was being stubborn and, at that back of her mind, she suspected that Monique had been about to bring up something important. Well, she was allowed to be stubborn now and again and sometime around the end of the week, she would make the effort and the two of them would patch things up. For now, she was working on patching things up with Ron. One patch job at a time.

Speaking of Ron, he had been a little subdued since his college visit over the weekend. Kim didn't know if it was because he realized that the next level of football was going to be a challenge, or if he had gotten a dose of what collegiate academics was going to be about. While he was subdued, he was at least attentive. Monday and Tuesday, they had walked back home after school and their 'goodnights', at her door, had left her lipstick smudged and both of them slightly breathless. They were planing on a proper date this Saturday, so hopefully things could get patched up for good.

Her Kimmunicator's chime interrupted her thoughts, which she had to admit didn't have much to do with the civics class she had just left.

"Go, Wade," she instructed her friend.

"Dementor's making a move," Wade reported. "He's stolen the ultrasonic drill again, but he's being kind of obvious about it."

"A trap?" Kim prompted.

"Ron's class got out a few minutes before yours did," Wade told her. "Something about an exothermic reaction that mystery meat shouldn't be capable of sustaining, so I talked to him a little before you got out of class. He thinks so, as well. We think that Dementor is making another play for your battle suit."

"The suit's down at the moment," Kim protested.

"But Dementor doesn't know that," Wade reminded her. "Ron suggested that I make a transmitter to emulate the suit's RF signature. He'll carry the transmitter on the infiltration route I calculated most likely to result in success, drawing Dementor's attention, while you come in via an alternate route and catch him by surprise."

"That's a reasonable plan," Kim admitted. "In fact, it's a very good one."

"He's been getting more logical this year," Wade's image shrugged. "He had a good idea for sidestepping any false information the college he visited could have given him. Your pickup is out front in ten, Ron will meet you there."

"On my way," Kim answered. "By the way, what did Ron do at the college that was so clever?"

"He asked me to set up a meeting with a random student, one the college hadn't picked to show him around," Wade answered. "A cheerleader he knew from the Wannaweep competition."

Kim felt suddenly chilled. "What was the college he went to again?" She asked Wade. "And who was the cheerleader?"

"Granite Peak State," Wade told her, calling the information up on his screen. "And the guy he met was...Chase Ziemlich."

Kim stopped dead in the busy hallway, her mouth hanging open. "What's wrong?" Wade asked her. The question managed to shake her out of her shock.

"Nothing," she answered. "The name just...caught me by surprise." She got herself moving again. "Let's get this mission done."

Going into a mission wasn't the time to get into an argument but Kim wasn't a good enough actress to keep from scowling at Ron for the entire trip. Fortunately, Dementor had made it easy for them; setting up in a warehouse in Kansas; a relatively quick ride by their standards. Even the short trip was enough for Ron to pick up on the fact that she was furious, but trying not to show it. As per Wade's instructions, Ron activated a gizmo, put it in his pocket, then parachuted out of the aircraft to land in a parking lot a couple of blocks away from the target.

While he made his way over a series of rooftops, where he would slip inside via a ventilation shaft, she used the cover of nearby buildings to approach a fire escape. Communication was off line during the infiltration, so she timed off two minutes on her watch before scrambling up the metal stairs and using her laser lipstick on on the latch. Opening the door as quietly as she could, she slipped inside the building to find herself on a mezzanine level balcony. Below her, in a clear space in the center of the floor, Dementor was surrounded by henchmen while staring at some sort of hand-held screen. He pressed a control and the building's lights dimmed momentarily.

"Zere!" He declared. "Thanks to der scans of zhe zuit I performed earlier zhis year, zhe zuit has been completely immobilized, trapping zhe fraulein whizin it. Now, to collect zhe prize."

He manipulated some controls on his screen. In response, a section of duct-work along the ceiling above him detached. A couple of chains lowered it until it was about seven feet above the floor. Dementor worked more controls and one side of the duct remained suspended while the other end lowered.

"Now, it iz just a simple matter of dumping out zhe...zhe zidekick?" Dementor was clearly shocked to see Ron slide out of the piece of duct-work "Vhere is de Fraulein Possible?"

"Where you don't expect me!" Kim snarled at him. She vaulted over a rail and down to the floor, landing with both feet on one of the surprised henchmen. "Ron's good at that, you might know where he's at, but you don't know the whole story!"

"Vat iz it that I'm for missing in dis conversation?" Dementor demanded.

"Oh, don't feel bad," Kim noted the henchmen getting ready for a fight while Ron scrambled to his feet. "He fooled me the same way!"

"Oh, you're quite the one to talk about deception!" Ron snarled back, but he didn't let his retort keep him from grabbing and grappling with Dementor himself.

"Not telling you something that would only upset him is one thing!" Kim snarled, blocking a punch and responding with one of her own, sending her assailant stumbling backwards. "I'm talking about an act of betrayal!"

"You want betrayal?" Ron snapped back. "Try standing on a cliff, looking down at a pool of toxic sludge!" Ron grabbed Dementor's hands, so he couldn't manipulate more controls. "Try jumping into that sludge to save your best friend from a mutant, only to find out that your best friend didn't believe you! Betrayal is finding out that while you were turning yourself into a mutant to save her, she was...was...with someone who had been humiliating you!"

"Don't let zhis argument distract you!" Dementor roared. "Blast zhem!"

"We don't have weapons!" One of the henchmen yelled back, even as the others surged forwards. "You didn't want any damage to the suit!"

"Zhat might have been an overzight," Dementor admitted, struggling with Ron.

"Oversights are becoming more common," Ron growled. "Like forgetting to tell someone about a certain trip you took last year, about what you did during that trip, which meant someone else was forced to go on a field trip and learn the truth!"

"Are you for talking to me or to her?" Dementor asked, as Ron forced him to drop the control.

"That's was my private business!" Kim snapped back, even as she drove a kick into the belly of one henchman. "You had no right to dig into my private life!"

"I wouldn't have had to, if you'd been honest with me!" Ron yelled back. "Monique told me about your little follow up trip, so I knew I couldn't trust you!"

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd be upset about it!" Kim yelled at him, while ducking one lunge and elbowing another man in the jaw.

"Hey, I have to be paying for his dental procedures!" Dementor protested, but went quiet when Ron drove a shoulder into his stomach and sent him flying backwards.

"So now you get to decide what I get to know?" Ron demanded. He turned from the stunned Dementor and vaulted over an oncoming henchman. "That's why I went to someone who would tell me the truth!"

"It was in the past!" Kim roared back. "What difference does it make?" This time, she ducked under a wild punch, grabbed the man's fist and shoulder-tossed him through a window and into an office area.

"I'm never getting my deposit back," Dementor whined.

"If it doesn't make any difference, why couldn't you tell me?" Ron shouted at her. The henchman he had vaulted was back for more, so he performed a leg scissors that dropped the man on his face. Before the man could struggle to his feet, Ron had inflicted an atomic wedgie on him.

"Dat's my brother-in-law!" Dementor shrieked in rage. "My sister vill be for complaining about doing his laundry for a week!"

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd act like this!" Kim retorted. This time, her wrath was focused upon the last two standing henchman. She kicked one in the knee, then landed two hard shots into his ribs. All three blows resulted in horrid, cracking sounds.

"I have to be for paying his medical care!" Dementor hollered, now surging to his feet. "And I have to be for paying him even ven he's disabled! Can't you kids be for taking your anger out on each other?"

The small scientist rushed Ron, pulling some sort of ray gun out of his jacket.

"I'm mad about the lie more than the act!" Ron shouted at Kim, while doing a tuck-and-roll. He avoided the yellowish beam that the gun emitted. The roll ended with him seizing Dementor's gun hand and twisting the weapon to point at its owner. "A lie means you're hiding something! I wanted to know what it was!"

"It's nothing!" Kim snapped back at him. The last standing henchman was clearly uneasy about fighting her, but must have decided that fighting was better than trying to run. His haymaker punch was caught, redirected, then reversed. He was sent tumbling, but Kim hauled back on his arm while he was going the other way, putting an unbearable strain on his shoulder.

"Enough! Enough! Time is for being out!" Dementor quit fighting for his weapon. The small man let it go and glared at his two adversaries. "Can't the two of you handle your private affairs vhen it is private! Look at vhat you have been doing here! All of my henchmen are injured and I'm going to have to be for taking care of dem vhile dey recover; or de henchman's guild vill be never for letting me hire another one!"

"There's a henchman's guild?" Ron asked.

"That's not being important here!" Dementor roared back at him. "I'm ruined because the two of you are for being too immature to be a couple!"

"Actually, it started when you stole..." Ron tried to point out.

"You were dangerous adversaries when you were friends, but be looking at this now!" Dementor gestured to the damage all around him, refusing to be interrupted.

"You!" The undersized megalomaniac stabbed a finger at Ron. "Vhat makes you tink she shouldn't have privacy now dat de two of you be dating? Vhatever she did in ze past is in de past!"

"Thank you," Kim offered icy gratitude.

"And you!" His ire was now directed at Kim. "Fraulein Possible! Don't you be knowing zhat every relationship is for being based on trust? Zhe past might be zhe past, but der past always comes out! If you can't be for telling him about your past because you tink he'll be for getting angry, how do you tink he'll react when he finds out for himself?"

His maniacal rage spent, he now looked at the teens. "I'm for tinking zhe two of you need to be tinking long and hard about dis relationship you claim to be in!"

"Maybe Dementor's right," Kim snarled at Ron, her voice dropping the temperature in the room by a good ten degrees. She activated her wrist Kimmunicator. "Wade, it will be two rides back. I'll go first." She fixed Ron with a hard glare, spun on her heel, and stalked out of the warehouse.

"Dat's why I'll never date," Dementor told Ron.

Ron looked at him, unable to decide if he should agree with him or argue. Finally, he settled for punching the man in the jaw and leaving through a different door than Kim had.

* * *

Monique was not in a good mood. The day had started bad, which was an improvement over the previous two days. Kim was in no mood to talk to her; the biggest fight the two had been in since the whole debacle over Hirotaka over a year ago. Monday and Tuesday, she had been invisible to the redhead but at least Kim and Ron were going through the motions of being a couple again. Today, Kim had offered her a slight smile and nod when walking by in the hall. Okay, that meant that Kim was getting over her mad and the two could probably talk things out this weekend. When Monique got the word that her friends got called off on a mission, she felt optimistic; a mission might be just the thing to get the two of them back on an even keel. That optimism didn't last the day.

For one thing, the two of them got back separately. That wasn't good. For another thing, they were both looking mad as hell and Kim gave her an extra harsh glare. Okay, that was even worse. It looked like the relationship between her friends was on the rocks, despite her working to patch it back together. That was the worst yet. Well, nobody was ever going to accuse Monique, the resident queen of gossip, of being passive about things. The first thing was to find out what went wrong and since Kim was giving her the silent treatment, that meant talking to Ron.

She didn't have technical support like Kim did, but Monique knew where the power players and her friends would be and when. Ron had football practice tonight and a shift at Smartymart after that. Trying to arrange a chance meeting with him tonight was out, but she could track him down tomorrow. Course of action firmly in her mind, she set her course to her next class, only to run straight into Tara.

"Something's wrong with them," the girl told her. "I know that. What do you know about it?"

Monique wasn't about to turn down the chance to share some knowledge and she knew the places to talk; not necessarily an empty classroom but the odd corner or niche, near a busy, noisy hallway where people could talk and not be overheard.

"Some of this is personal," Monique quickly told the blonde. "I'm not going into detail, but something from Kim's past came up."

"And Ron's scared that he's not high enough on the food chain for her," Tara finished. "Just so you know, Bonnie spotted them coming back and she's told me that it would be a good time to make a play for Ron."

"That's low," Monique grumbled.

"Very," Tara agreed. "But if I don't, she'll try to get someone else to do it. I'll keep close to Ron, it'll keep Bonnie from trying to get some other girl to make things worse."

"Wait just a minute!" Monique hissed at her. "Why are you doing this?"

"I owe them," Tara shrugged. "They saved the whole squad from that Gill thing, twice. The least I can do is try to keep them together."

Monique had a few doubts, but wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She also had to get to class. She gave Tara a quick nod and tried to put her mind on English Literature.

* * *

Things weren't supposed to work out this way.

He and KP had been friends since they were four years old, they had gone through all the possible misunderstandings and arguments that two people could go through. Sure, there had been a few adjustments to the dating sitch, but that was to be expected with the change. Still, they had gone through them, so things were supposed to be easy now.

What went wrong?

A Barkin workout wasn't compatible with trying to figure out what went wrong in a relationship. While a shift in the pet department at Smartymart was usually a good time to think, it was very busy tonight, so he wasn't able to work out what had gone wrong. However, a slow scooter ride, over quiet, night streets you had driven a hundred times, didn't offer much of an alternative to wondering about the recent past. He had no sooner started his slow mode of transportation than he started to think about the whole sitch.

_"You and Kim have been together forever," _one half of his brain argued_. "You've been through tough times as friends. Did you really expect the dating thing to go off without problems? This isn't any different, you can get through this. Just go to her, apologize for violating her privacy and her trust, get over the consequences and go back to being boyfriend and girlfriend._"

**"But she's feeding you half-truths!" **The other half answered, leaving Ron to wonder which one was the little angel on one shoulder and which was the little devil on the other.** "You wouldn't have even known about her affair with Chase if it wasn't for her sticking up for him when you were talking about putting him in his place! You wouldn't have known that she went to his home town for another round if Monique hadn't slipped up!"**

"_And what did you find out when you talked to Chase about it? You found out that they realized that they couldn't be what the other wanted, so they both moved on. She didn't want to be a friends with benefits, she wanted a real boyfriend! You were the one she eventually moved on to!" _The first voice seemed to pause a little._ "Were you expecting her to be a virgin in every sense of the word? Oh, so that's what one of those things looks like. Oh, that's what it's like to kiss! Oh, I've never had a boy's tongue in my mouth before, can we try that again? Face it, she's beautiful, outgoing, adventurous and has been into boys longer that you've been into girls. Of course she's going to have more...romantic...experience than you! Anything she did with Mankey is none of your business, so why is this any of your business?"_

_"_**Maybe it's the values you were raised with but you fully believe that a there's a big line between kissing and...some of the other things you've done with her... and having sex. She must believe it, as well, because she tried to hide this from you, but was up front and honest about her few dates with Mankey and her infatuation with Hirotaka." **Now, the second voice paused to prepare its own volley. "**Sure, the two of you weren't together like that at the time, but she was still your friend and he had insulted and humiliated you, over you trying to save his butt! She had been through Gill's first attack, so she should have been supportive of you having suspicions but instead, she saw a hot guy and acted on it!"**

_"Everyone but her and Bonnie were getting on your case about it," _the first voice countered_. "Was she supposed to try to get the entire camp to change their tune?"_

**"No, but sleeping with one of the guys? She didn't stick up for you for having a very valid concern about Gil, but she stuck up for Chase, over a year after the fact, when you called him a jerk! That doesn't sound like something that she's gotten over!"**

_"So now you're a relationship expert? You have no idea how long it takes to get over a former lover! You've never had one! Besides, like she said, you weren't exactly eager to tell Yori that you and Kim were an item."_

**"Oh, wasn't that just rich?" **Ron knew that it was somewhat normal for someone to have an argument in his own head, but was it normal for one of the voices to have such a gloat in his voice? **"There you were, fighting Fiske and his monkeys, and she's more interested in making sure that you tell Yori that the two of you are dating...yet she doesn't have the courtesy to tell you about an ex! Hypocritical much?"**

_"Chase was in her past but Yori didn't know that the two of you were an item."_

**"Chase was, and is, 450 miles away. Yori is what, five, six thousand miles?" **The gloat was back in the second voice's tone.** "Which one of them is more of a threat to your relationship?"**

"_Yori came here, to Middleton._" The first voice pointed out. "_That's how Kim found out about her. Yori contacted you shortly after your parents adopted Hana. Those five thousand miles have been less of a barrier than the four hundred._"

**"But there was never anything with Yori!" **The second voice sounded strangely defensive.** "You didn't even know that she liked you...as in liked-you-liked-you, until Kim pointed it out. Conveniently after she was in a helicopter and flying away."**

"_And if you realized that she was attracted to you?_" Now, the first voice seemed to be on the offensive. "_What if Yori had made a move on you that night in the rain forest? Would you have had the willpower to say no?_"

**"Not the same issue!" **The second voice was clearly on its heels...so to speak.** "Yori has never criticized or insulted Kim! She's been nothing but polite! So what if you and Yori would have had a tryst...and quit drooling about it!"**

By now, Ron had reached his home, tired of the self argument but not knowing how to stop it. How does one shut oneself up? He checked in with his parents, letting them know that he was home safely, then dragged himself up to his room. Rufus looked at him, partially concerned but partially amused as he undressed and pulled on the sweats and tee shirt he had recently started to wear as pajamas.

"_Fine!_" The first voice sounded like it was going in for the kill. "_What if it had been Bonnie, back when she was after your money? Would you have been able to say no?"_

The second voice was conspicuously silent.

"_It's really easy to take the moral high ground when you've never had that level of temptation,_" the first voice now had the gloat that the second voice had previously shown.

**"But her giving into the temptation is only part of the issue,"** the second voice sounded a little desperate, but still confident.** "Would you have defended Bonnie's actions towards Kim? Would you have told her that Bonnie isn't really a snarky jerk?"**

_"Okay, that's a point," _the first voice gave the impression that it was feeling like he did when he thought he was about to win a video game, only to suddenly lose._ "But it's still not a reason to break things off with Kim!"_

**"Would you have tried to hide it from her?" **The second voice was now on the offensive again. **"If she found out about you and Bonnie, you would have admitted if it happened more than once! She hid it and she hid it for a reason!"**

"_Yeah, to not upset you_!"

**"Or so she says! Let's face it, Chase is a hottie, just like Mankey, like Hirotaka and like Eric was before he was revealed as a syntho. She has a weakness for the hot guys and she ignores you and even bends the truth when one shows up. You saw her eyes fly wide for Mankey, you saw her eyes fly wide when she saw Eric. You weren't here, but you heard about how she lost her head over Hirotaka and her eyes must have flown wide when she saw Chase. Have you ever seen her eyes fly wide when she saw you?"**

"_There was..._"

**"It doesn't count when she was under the moodulator's effects!"**

"_Well, how about..._"

**"When you did something incredibly stupid doesn't count, either."**

**"**_Fine, she isn't overwhelmed by your looks,_" the first voice admitted. "_But she is attracted to you! Do you think she was just faking it when you made out with her on your dates? She responded to you, just like you responded to her._"

**"Yeah, but she responded to Chase a heck of a lot faster!"**

"_It's not a contest and sex with her isn't a prize! The fact is that she enjoys the time she's with you, both as a friend and romantically. Sure, she's never gone breathless and empty-headed when she looks at you, but you also hold a place in her heart that nobody else does...just like she holds a place in your heart that nobody else ever will." _

**"But is that special place what she wants, romantically? You want her but does she want you the same way? Yes, she's your friend and she enjoys making out with you, but is it a package kind of deal? In other words, is she putting up with a romance that she just kind of enjoys so that she can maintain the friendship? What happens to you when a hottie with loyalty and personality shows up?" **

The first voice went silent again, and the second voice went in for the kill.

**"Face it, you were always her backup, just like Chase said Granite Peak State should be for you; the low hanging fruit that's always there in case a quality program doesn't pan out. You want proof? Why didn't she tell you that Tara liked you until after she was conveniently with Josh? Why didn't she tell you that Yori liked-you-liked-you until after she was conveniently on a helicopter and flying away to Japan?"**

"_You don't buy that for a second," _the first voice rallied._ "She encouraged you to ask Zita out. She honestly didn't realize that you didn't know that Tara and Yori were interested._"

**"Riiiiggghhhht," **a voice inside your head wasn't supposed to be able to manage this level of sarcasm, but voice number two had it perfected**. "How about how you got together with her? Less than four hours before that kiss at the prom, she was at the same dance with Eric, and with eyes for nobody else! Sure, you don't know much about breakups and getting over an ex, but four hours? Face reality, you're her rebound over Eric."**

"_Or maybe she realized that she had these feelings for you all along_," voice number one's statement sounded like the verbal equivalent of a basketball player making a desperate half-court shot with time running out and down by a point.

**"And she never said anything before that?"**

"_Neither had you!_"

The second voice didn't seem to have an answer to that one.

"_We could argue all night, so why don't we make our points?_"

**"You go first."**

"_Sure. When you were four years old, you promised to be her friend forever. For over twelve years, you kept that promise even though she became an overachiever and you became a slacker. Even though she became one of the most popular girls at school and you became a bottom feeder, you remained friends. You remained friends through the missions, through the moodulator and through Josh and Walter. You stepped up your game last year and became her boyfriend. Now, you have some legitimate concerns about her past actions. That's fine, but it's not a reason to give up on the two of you. You've been through hard times before, you can get by this one._"

**"Well put." **

"_Thank you, your turn_."

**"With pleasure. Friendship compatibility doesn't mean romantic compatibility. You've managed to remain friends through all these years, and that's great. It doesn't mean that you're good romantic partners, much less lovers. You wanted to ease into the physical aspect of the romantic relationship and even though she seemed to agree, this episode with Chase shows that that's not how she wants it to work. She wants to be swept away and lets face it, you're just not the broom that can do that. No, you shouldn't give up on the two of you...as friends. This romance that you've had with her was fun, but fun was all it was ever going to be. It's time to admit that you're not the hottie that she wants, patch together what you can of your friendship and let her find someone who can sweep her away the way that she wants."**

"_A very compelling argument._"

**"Thank you. Now, would you like to have follow up arguments?"**

_"Absolutely. Shall I go first again?"_

**"Please do."**

_"There has never been any guarantee that you and KP will go the distance, but that doesn't mean you're not supposed to try. You work in the pet department at Smartymart, so you know that most people who stop by aren't going to buy a pet. Yet, you have to treat each visitor as a customer so you don't lose those who are interested in buying something. It's the same with romantic relationships. The chance of you and KP going the distance is very low, but you have to put in the effort under the assumption that she could be the one you spend the rest of your life with. You have to put in the effort, otherwise you miss out on something wonderful. At the very least, there's nothing wrong with taking Chase's advice: Chill out and enjoy it while it lasts."_

**"You make a very good point."**

_"Thank you."_

**"But you're missing something. The longer you draw out a failed romance with her, the more damage it does to your friendship. Even if you patched up your friendship tomorrow, it's going to bother you for some time every time you see her chatting up, flirting with, or dating another guy. You're going to be constantly asking yourself what he has that you didn't. Imagine if you put this behind you and continue to be her boyfriend. What if you go off to different colleges and she finds someone new? It's going to hurt even worse. You were able to move on from Zita because the short time you dated didn't give you the time to get emotionally invested...and you were still shook up from the breakup. You don't have that option with Kim. Chase's advice was good...for Chase. You're not him, you don't have the same views towards love that he does and you're already invested in her. You took a big chance when you told her how you felt, and that chance didn't pan out. It's now time to cut your losses as best you can, give her the opportunity to find someone who takes her breath away and give you the chance to find someone who feels that way about you."**

_"Your points are also valid."_

**"Thank you."**

_"But now it's decision time." _

Somehow, Ron got the impression that two, disembodied voices were staring at him with impatient expressions on their non-existent faces. He never liked this kind of pressure, even if the two who were demanding a decision didn't actually exist. He had also never liked logic; it seemed so cold and uncaring and usually demanded that he do something that he'd rather not.

Needless to say, there wasn't much sleep that night.

* * *

Things weren't good.

Monique was used to meeting with Kim and Ron when the two of them showed up at school and, as had happened only a few times in the years she had known them, they showed up separately. This was extra not good, as just yesterday the two of them had looked like they were patching up their little problem. The fact that both of them looked pale and had puffy eyes warned her that things had gotten even worse than they had been yesterday. Tara took one look at Ron, then gave a quick, discrete nod, before closing in on him. Monique heaved a sigh of almost relief; at least there was one thing she didn't have to worry about.

"Hey..." She tried to greet Kim, despite the fact that the two of them weren't really talking, but her voice failed her when facing Kim's sad expression.

"Third period," Kim whispered to her. "Home-Ec Room. I need to talk."

"Got it."

It wasn't easy concentrating on schoolwork for two classes. Kim and Ron were only paying enough attention to each other to try to avoid the other. Bonnie seemed to be on cloud nine, whispering to her posse and snickering at Kim whenever the opportunity presented itself. It didn't help that Barkin had initiated a major "School Spirit" theme, in celebration of hosting a playoff game on Friday. A fair percentage of the students were into it, which didn't contrast well with Kim's sad state. By some miracle, the Home-Ec Room wasn't being used to assemble banners. It was strangely peaceful when she arrived. Moments later, Kim showed up.

"I was mad at you yesterday," Kim told her, her voice little more than a whisper. "But now I don't know who I should be mad at, if anyone."

"What happened?" Monique might have been a little peeved at Kim's attitude yesterday, but the redhead was still her friend.

"You let it slip to Ron that I went to Chase's hometown," Kim told her, although the voice wasn't angry. "So he put together a college trip to Granite Peak State, disguised as a recruiting visit, and had a word with Chase."

"That jerk!" Monique growled. "What happened? Did the two of them get into a fight?"

"No," Kim told her. "I don't know the details, but it wasn't violent. Yesterday, Wade let it slip that Ron had him set up the meeting...disguised as him asking a fellow Wannaweep survivor about life at GPS."

"Did you let Ron have a piece of your mind?" Monique asked.

"Oh, yeah," Kim snorted. "During the fight against Dementor. He gave me a piece of his mind, as well. In the end, we made separate trips back. This morning, he told me that we should break up."

"What!?"

"He told me that we must have different ideas about a romantic relationship," Kim's voice was just a little unsteady. "That trust in a relationship was important to him, but it must not be important to me."

"That's going too far!" Monique snapped. "He might have had a point about you not telling him about Chase, but tracking the boy down and talking to him behind your back?"

"I pointed that out," Kim admitted. "But he pointed out that I did the same with Yori, even though there had never been anything between the two of them. That kind of killed my argument."

"One instance!" Monique protested. "I'm not buying that he wants to break up with you! He's looking every bit as rough as you do!"

"Right," Kim rolled her eyes. "He must really be shook up with Tara hanging on him."

"Don't worry about Tara," Monique assured her. "Bonnie's trying to get her to make a move on him but she's not going to. I've had a word with her, she's acting the part so that Bonnie doesn't get someone else to try and take advantage of the situation. Let's worry about you right now."

"What's the point of worrying?" Kim shrugged. "My boyfriend doesn't want to be my boyfriend anymore. He said that we should take a little time and try to patch up being friends again."

"Okay, taking a little bit of time might be a good idea," Monique suggested. "But I'm not about to give up on the two of you being an item."

"What did I do wrong?" Kim finally asked, sounding so lost that it made Monique flinch.

"Nothing..." she tried to say, but Kim didn't seem to hear her.

"Am I supposed to act like I regret Chase?" She asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Am I supposed to regret the dates with Josh, crushing on Hirotaka?"

"No!" Monique insisted. "Okay, I regret acting like I did around Hirotaka, but I don't think that's what you're talking about."

"True," Kim managed a slight smile at that. "Okay, I regret acting like that. But will some future boyfriend expect me to regret Ron? It's so unfair!"

"Kim, you didn't do anything wrong with Chase," Monique assured her. "That was your choice. Ron just found out about him in a rough way. The only thing you did wrong was not coming clean with him once he started to learn the details. It was all just a perfect storm that we'll make sure doesn't happen again."

"What's the point?" Kim asked. "He broke up with me!"

"I haven't given up on the two of you yet," Monique countered. "Let's give the two of you a couple of days to calm down and then get you talking again. You might have some questions to ask yourself before then."

"What questions?"

"I'm still working on them," Monique answered. "But in the meantime, I'm going to have a word with a certain blonde running back."

* * *

Monique made sure to herd Kim in the direction of the lunchroom, even though she was sure that the redhead wouldn't be very hungry. As expected, Ron was nowhere to be found but Felix was at their usual table, so she left Kim with him and went off in search of Ron. Sure, Felix might seem a better choice to have the word with Ron, but the boy was just too polite at times. This called for a direct and combative approach and Monique was all too ready to take exactly that approach with Ron.

She found him in the gym, listlessly dribbling a basketball and taking the occasional, half-hearted shot. For a heartbeat or two, seeing him so dejected made her think about taking it easy on him.

For a heartbeat or two.

Nobody dissed Kim like he did without hearing from her! She stormed into the gym, stalked right up to the boy and pointed towards a disused corridor in a manner that gave no room for argument. Spinning on her heel, she stalked off in the direction she had just indicated, dragging him along behind her with sheer audacity.

"What the hell were you thinking of, breaking up with Kim?" She demanded, once they were...barely...far enough into the corridor to avoid being overheard. She was proud of herself for not slapping him.

"I was doing it for both of us," Ron managed to rally from his despondency and show some backbone when answering her.

"What kind of whack thought is that?" She crossed her arms and stared him down. "The two of you are good for each other!"

"Yeah, but not good enough." He grumbled.

"What?!" Her temper was rising by the moment. "Are you saying because she had her little fling, she's not good enough for you?" That was too much to take, she lashed out to slap his face.

She should have known it wasn't going to land. Ron might have been the sidekick, but he had spent years fighting supervillains and their henchmen. He caught her wrist and she was shocked to learn just how strong he was.

"It's just the opposite," he told her, pushing the hand gently away. "I finally realized that I'm not what she's looking for."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She didn't try to hit him again, but she still wanted an explanation.

"It means that I finally figured it out. If I found out that she slept with Josh, it wouldn't have bothered me. The difference isn't just that she had only met Chase, but that she chose to believe Chase over me. Gill had attacked the whole squad less than a year before that competition; Barkin had wound up with gills and his feet were growing webs before it was all done. Even after that, when she found herself on a dock with Chase, she didn't call him out for treating me like dirt. She must have agreed that I was full of it, that I was wrong about Gil. She must have believed that he was right to call me a loser because if she didn't, nothing would have happened between them." He took another, deep breath. "Then, I figured it all out because she defended what he did back then. He wasn't even there; it was over a year after she had her fling but she wouldn't let me get away with calling him a jerk for giving me grief when I was trying to save everyone's butt. Does that sound like a girl who's over her affair? Does that sound like someone who's into me?"

"Okay, she's got..." Monique hesitated, but pressed on. "She's got some good memories."

"Yeah, memories of a guy she barely knew, still barely knows." He took a deep breath. "And she still doesn't trust me enough to tell me the whole story. Even then, she gets mad when I try to learn the truth."

"But Ron," she protested. "Don't you see that she's grown past that? Last year, you burst into the prom and spouted off a wild tale about the diablo toys being evil. You interrupted her dream date with her dream guy; and she believed you."

"One time," he grumbled. "With the fate of the world at stake. I wish I could believe that it was permanent."

"You can't?" Monique glared at him. "Why not? If this is about the fact that you and her haven't..."

"It's not about that," he interrupted her. "It's about the fact that she's never gone breathless and wide-eyed over me. It's about the fact that learning about her fling with Chase finally taught me that she wants a guy who'll do that for her, and I'm not that guy. It's about me figuring out that the hottie stays on her mind, even when she's dating a guy like me."

He paused, blinking rapidly. Monique knew that he was fighting back tears.

"It's about me finally figuring out that she'll eventually find her next hottie, then I'm going to be locked in a cleaning closet again."

"Do you really think she's that shallow?" Monique wasn't about to let anyone talk down her friend like that.

"She doesn't mean to be," Ron answered. "But she is. She wants a hot guy and she's Kim Possible, she'll find him eventually. She's earned her way into any top notch college she wants to go to. Once she's there, she'll have plenty of hot, smart guys around. She'll have her pick, so how long do you think she'll remember me?"

"Ron, she has it bad for you," Monique protested. "Don't let this little incident make you forget it! She got caught up in the moment with Chase and that isn't about to happen again. She didn't tell you about it because...well...she just likes to control things and it can get out of hand."

"She has it bad for me," he agreed. "At the moment. But how long does that last?" He sighed. "Do you think I don't hear people talking, that I don't read the gossip rag articles? It's all the same...how wonderful that Kim Possible is dating that plain guy who's been with her for so long. Kim Possible is so mature to look beyond the looks."

"Don't you realize that it's the truth?" Monique almost plead with him. "She's had it bad for you for awhile, just like you had it bad for her. The two of you finally figured it out."

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But for how long?" He sighed again. "Just once, it would be nice to have her look at me the way she looked at Josh, or Eric. Just once, I'd like for someone to get caught up in the moment with me. Do you know what it's like dating her, knowing that you're nothing special? You wonder if you should make some sort of move...but you don't know how she'll take it. She's everything you could ever want in a girl but she doesn't tell you what she wants from you...but she sure lets you know when you've screwed up. So you don't try anything and hope that she doesn't want you to, all while wondering when the next Josh or Eric will show up."

"So, what are you going to do?" Monique asked.

"I'm going to let a few days go by and try to be her friend again," he answered. "I'm going to remember my place in the food chain. Then I'm going to trade carrying an inflated piece of pig-leather for a college education and hope that somewhere down the line, some average girl will actually think I'm a catch. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for class."

He stalked back towards the gym, but Monique had spotted a flicker of movement down the hall in the opposite direction.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop," she challenged the unseen listener, once Ron had left.

"So says the queen of gossip," Tara stepped into view. "Just be glad it was me. I chased off two people who would have loved to have some dirt on those two."

"What all did you hear?" Monique asked her.

"Enough to know that Kim has some severe control issues and Ron has some severe self-esteem issues," Tara shrugged. "I also know that it's a lot easier to get along with both of them when they're together, so I'd like to see them make up." She shuddered a bit. "The squad is in for rough practices until they do, so I'd like to see them make up really soon."

"So, you're going to help me?"

"Like I said before, I owe them," Tara said. "I'll make Bonnie think that I'm after Ron, that should keep her from getting out of hand with the rumors. Maybe we can have a few words with them tomorrow, after the game and the dance, then get them to talk over the weekend."

"You think it'll be that easy?"

"They have it bad for each other," Tara reminded her. "Once we get them by their issues, they'll remember it...I hope."

* * *

_A/N: I'd like to thank GerbilHunter for dropping me an idea, via PM, which I used in this chapter. _

_Biggest thanks, as always, to Joe Stoppinghem for beta-reading._


	5. Chapter 5

Ron knew that he had done the right thing, but didn't understand how he could feel so terrible for doing it. He expected to be sad; he had just broken up with his best friend. He didn't expect to see Kim's pale expression. As mad as she was at him, he thought she would welcome his remarks, not look so lost.

That hadn't changed his mind. Sure, she was sad now but she would eventually realize that he just wasn't the guy that she wanted in a romantic sense. She would move on but hopefully, they would still be friends. Okay, they would never be as close as they had been before but like she had said in the tree house before prom, it was time to grow up. Growing up meant making hard decisions.

He kind of expected Monique to confront him, even slap him. He didn't expect her to be reasonable about the whole thing. Of course, she was mad that he had upset Kim but he hadn't realized just how much she wanted the two of them together. As much as the idea that Monique hadn't given up on the two of them should have made him feel better, it bothered him. Monique just couldn't understand how much it hurt to know that you were average...at best. He had fooled himself into thinking that he could date someone like Kim, and he was paying the price now.

Okay, he could date Kim; for a little while. He had no doubt that he could keep dating her through the rest of the school year and through the upcoming summer. But once college started and he wasn't around her, he was sure she'd find someone else. He didn't have Chase's attitude towards love, so it wasn't going to work.

Bonnie's smirks hurt almost as much as Kim's trembling lip...mainly because those smirks were directed at Kim. Tara started to hang around him and he had no doubt that she was doing so because Bonnie put her up to it. He liked Tara; but Bonnie must have fed her some line that because he was a jock now, it was okay to date him. He was certain of two things; that Bonnie had put Tara up to it to hurt Kim and that once football was over, and he was back to being just Ron again, Tara would lose interest. Again, at Bonnie's prodding.

Football practice was a trial, even though Barkin gave them a light one with a game the next night. The rumor mill was grinding away and most of his teammates had figured out that he had broken up with his girlfriend. There weren't any snarky remarks or taunting. Ron didn't know if it was because they didn't want to be cruel to him or if they didn't want him even more shook up before a playoff game.

The last couple of weeks had taught him not to ask questions he didn't want answered.

Of course there was no sleep that night. His folks were out of town with Hana, and Felix was off at a science club exhibit so he had nobody to talk to except Rufus. As supportive as the little guy was, he just didn't understand the complexities of human relationships.

He almost walked up to the Possibles' door on the way to school the next day. Asking to see Kim, asking her to take him back would be easy to do, but it wouldn't be right. Instead, he stalked on to school and pushed through in a daze. He did his best to show some enthusiasm for the game but he was pretty sure that everyone could guess that he was down and why.

The locker room was awkward. He did his best to respond to Barkin's pre-game pep speech but he was really just going through the motions. He had only joined the team because he thought that it was what Kim wanted. As empty as football felt right now, he had to admit that it had given him a chance for a better future and he wasn't about to throw that away, no matter how down he was at the moment. Somehow, knowing that he would eventually get over this heartache made it feel worse. Those few guys who hadn't heard about his current situation yesterday must have learned since then, as there were a few snickers; jocks rejoicing that the loser was back in his place. That was fine; after you've been belittled by Bonnie and Shego, football level taunts just didn't have the same effect.

Or so he thought.

Ron had never been much for trash talking on the field, mainly because he wasn't very good at it. He had also learned to ignore most comments opposing players made about Kim; after all, she was a celebrity and it was pretty common knowledge among teens that he was dating her. Trash talk was just that, an effort to get the other guy to get off of his game a little bit. You shut the other guy up by making a play. However, he didn't realize just how raw his nerves had become over the breakup. Lined up for the first play from scrimmage, several of the other team's defenders made extremely crude comments about Kim and the activities they'd like to perform with her. Where he usually ignored these comments, it hit home this time. Ron glared at the loudest of the taunters, which of course only egged them on more. Gritting his teeth, he kept his silence but decided that it was time to quit just accepting the situation.

The first play was a standard, off-tackle play. Ron took the hand-off and followed the pulling guard around the right side. Spotting a gap between the guard and the tackle, he cut and rushed through. One of the linebackers closed on him and instead of avoiding him, Ron lunged into him with all the speed he could muster. Rather than a stiff-arm, Ron buried his elbow into the other boy's gut when they crashed into each other. He knocked the linebacker down, but the boy dragged him to the ground on the way. Ron deliberately dug his elbow into the boy's stomach as a couple more defenders piled on top of him. There were more comments while they un-piled, but Ron kept his silence, noting the numbers worn by the loudest mouths.

The next play was a play-action pass, and Ron would have to block; which was fine by him tonight. Usually, Ron blocked by cutting the other player's legs out from under him but this time, he spotted his assignment, lined up and slammed into the boy with all the strength that years of sidekick work had developed. While the oncoming linebacker wasn't dropped to the ground, he was knocked back a couple of steps, as was Ron. The block gave the quarterback enough time to make his pass and the jolt actually felt good to the troubled teen.

The next play was a simple pitch play, an effort to get Ron outside where he could make use of his speed. It worked for the most part; Ron managed to outrun the linemen and linebackers, sidestepped a corner before confronting a safety. Instead of ducking outside and picking up a couple more yards, Ron met the boy head-on again. The two fell to the grass with the other boy winding up on top of him. Not satisfied with the safety's leisurely pace at unpiling, Ron threw the boy off and scrambled to his feet. Angered, the other boy got up and the two cracked into each other, facemask to facemask. No words were exchanged but the message was clear; neither one was going to back down. Their teammates had to drag them apart.

Ron didn't carry the ball the next play, but when he lined up against his blocking assignment, he wasn't blocking a teenage boy. He was going up against Chase; the hottie that could charm Kim within minutes of meeting her, the hottie that was so much more than him in her eyes that when he made less than complimentary remarks about him, over a year after she had her encounter, she defended him. Ron drove his shoulder into the boy's stomach and kept his legs churning, driving his assignment across the field and into the ground. Again, the two teams had to separate the players.

On the next sweep play, the safety who tried to catch him wasn't a rival player. He was Josh Mankey, the popular boy that Kim had risked her life to go on a date with; the boy that Kim had locked him in a supply closet overnight to dance with. Ron poured on the speed, sprinting down the sideline and outdistancing the boy to the end zone. While the home fans cheered, he tossed the ball to the nearest official, glared at the safety and offered a few words.

"Way to hustle."

The game became a blur. When he had to block a lineman, he wasn't blocking a large teenage football player, he was up against Hirotaka. Ron hadn't been around to see it, but he had heard the stories. Kim and every other girl in Middleton High went crazy over the exchange student...while he was in an iron cage being lowered into magma. The boy hammered Ron to the ground and made the tackle but Ron was beyond caring; tonight he'd take a hit if it meant getting to land one of his own.

As the game wore on, he faced the gamut of everyone who had ever belittled him, insulted him, ignored him or simply proved to be so much better than him. The cornerback he faked out and left spinning in confusion was Fukushima. The lineman he beat to the corner, then the linebacker he drove back the extra two yards to pick up the first down were the D Hall bullies. The blitzing corner he cut was Will Du. The safety he hit, sidestepped, then evaded for another touchdown was Fiske. He faced Drakken and Shego, Dementor and Junior, Barkin and DNAmy. He held nothing back.

Halftime came and Barkin had more than a few words for him. Of course, Barkin had been chewing him out for most of the game, but with the pause in the action, he actually payed attention to it. He was ready for the litany; that he was harming the team with all the hits he was taking. He needed to use his speed and agility, his job was to gain yards and win the game, not to work out some personal vendetta. Ron nodded his agreement but had no intention of changing his game. Barkin couldn't understand that physical pain was better than the mental torment he was going through.

The third quarter was more of the same, and his teammates rallied behind him. While they didn't know, couldn't know the details behind his rage, they knew that their star player, the guy who usually used speed and elusiveness to get the job done, had decided to get very, very physical. Everyone on the Middleton side of the ball responded in kind. Pumped up for the playoff game, as well as Ron's example, they hammered the opposition. By the end of the third quarter, Middleton had built an impressive lead and Coach Barkin pulled most of his starters. He did it with a certain amount of class, having the replacements run onto the field after a play so that everyone watching the game could see the starters leave. The applause was thunderous, but Ron barely registered it. At first he was angry that he couldn't take out any more of his frustrations but as he sat on the bench, an increasing stiffness and soreness giving him a taste of what he was going to be going through in the next few days, his overwhelmed mind started to work on his situation some more.

After the pad-slaps and high fives, his teammates' attention returned to the field. He was left alone on the bench, the guys around him respecting that he was shook up and willing to give him his space. Here, with no opponents to hit, no plays to remember and no crowd cheering for him, he was no longer the football hero out for revenge. Suddenly, he was once again Ron Stoppable; the average guy who was, as he had been almost all of his life, in way over his head.

He was the bumbling sidekick who had been dumb enough to let himself believe that someone like Kim could fall for him that way.

Finally, the final gun sounded and Ron lurched to his feet while his teammates, and most of the fans, jumped in celebration. He was on autopilot as he trudged onto the field, sharing some handshakes and hollow pleasantries with his opponents. He set his course to the locker room with his teammates, not really wanting to do anything, matching his pace to theirs so that he was neither the first nor the last to get off of the field. Once in the locker room, he only half paid attention to Barkin's post-game pep talk before hitting the shower.

How he wished the warm water could rinse away memories, as well as sweat and grime. How he wished the warm water could rinse away the attention he had called onto himself, so he could just go home. It couldn't, he was still himself, just clean, when he got dressed and tried to make himself inconspicuous in the group of football players making their way from the locker room to the gym. Of course, the assembled students broke into applause when they showed up, but Ron felt more the loser than ever before in his life.

Trying to maintain a smile and a casual pace took more courage and energy than sneaking into Drakken's lair ever did. Forcing himself, hopefully, to have no reaction when his eyes traced first over Kim's fake smile then Bonnie's all-to believable smirk took more control than ignoring three years' of high school insults and threats ever had. Tara moved in quickly as the DJ started playing music, claiming him for the first dance. He accepted, knowing that he would make a bigger fool out of himself, turn Kim into a bigger target for Bonnie, if he were to either run away into the night or throw himself into Kim's arms, like he wanted to.

He almost laughed at the cruel irony of it all; a year ago, he wouldn't have believed his good fortune to be at a high school dance, the school hero and sharing the first dance of the night with Tara. Now that it was actually happening, he wished that he wasn't here. He took the blonde girl into a formal, waltz hold and did his best to look happy and care free. Fortunately for him, Tara was a good enough dancer that she kept him from making too much of a fool out of himself.

He tried to be casual about it, but he watched for other couples. The rest of the cheerleaders paired up with football players and made their way onto the floor. Both Kim and Bonnie were holding back emotions, but Ron knew them well enough to see beyond their cheerleader facade. Kim was holding back tears while Bonnie was holding back laughter. He clenched his jaw, frustrated that he was the cause of both emotions. Tara's gentle hand on his cheek brought him back to reality.

"_Please no_," he thought, as that gentle hand pulled his head down towards hers. "_Please, don't kiss me or even say that you like me. I'm a mess and you deserve someone better than me. Please don't tell me you like me, because right now, I really need to hear someone say that and I don't know what to do about it._"

Instead, the blonde girl pulled his ear down to her lips, so she could whisper to him while the music kept anyone from overhearing.

"Ron, I know that you and Kim are having a rough time," her gentle voice tickled his ear. "I don't know what's happening, but you can't let it get to you. You're one of the good guys, so don't let it change you."

"It's complicated," he murmured into her ear, while she turned and looked at the redhead, who was dancing with a cornerback.

"It always is," she shook her head. "The two of you have been together forever. You can't just walk away. No matter what, you have to try. Isn't she worth it?"

"Yeah," he grumbled. "But...I don't think I am."

"You are!" Her fingers dug into his shoulders. "You're worth it to her and she knows it...she just might not know how to show it. She's worth it to you! The two of you at least have to try." The blonde girl grabbed his chin and turned his face to look at her. Her expression was part serious and part humorous. "I bet Bonnie ten bucks that the two of you would be a couple when we graduated. You can't let me lose that bet."

Despite the situation, Ron couldn't help but snort with laughter...then choke back a sob because it felt so wrong to laugh.

"Seriously," she reached up to touch the side of his face. "The two of you have been through so much together that you can't give up. Do whatever it takes, but let her know that you still love her."

The song came to an end and most of the students applauded the team. The music started to play again, but Ron excused himself from the floor, saying that he was both sore and tired. Tara followed him, steering him discretely past the snack table and to a corner where they were unlikely to be overheard.

"Ron," she told him. "I know that you're shook up, that you're hurting from more than the game. If you need a friend, I'm here."

Oh, it was tempting. He and Tara had been on generally friendly terms through high school, even if he didn't have the history with her that he did with Kim. But he had just broken up with his girlfriend; it was no time to jump into another relationship...or even try to do so. Tara was willing to be his friend, and he appreciated it. She seemed to want to be more than friends, but he couldn't shake the feeling that a lot of that was Bonnie's doing.

"I just want to go home and be alone for a bit," he told her.

"Not alone," she insisted. "Your parents are there, right?"

"No," he answered. "Dad had an actuary assessment to do, and he and mom took Hana along and turned it into a vacation."

"They didn't even see your game?" She asked, clearly shocked.

"Wade filmed it, and they'll watch it with me later," he assured her. "This event was scheduled before we locked up the playoff game."

"But, you'll be alone..."

"Rufus is there," Ron assured her. "He doesn't like football games, so he stays at home playing on line. He's probably a little lonely for me right now, so I should go."

"But...just Rufus?"

"Hey, don't diss the rat," he mocked-challenged her. "Seriously, I'll be fine."

Before she could say anything else, he left the gym, turned up his collar at the cold breeze and set his course towards home. He clearly wasn't normal; behind him, there was a gym full of fellow students who thought he was the hero for the evening, as well as a pretty blonde who was interested in him. By his own choice, he was walking, alone, through the cold streets so that he could spend the rest of the evening with a naked mole rat.

At times like these, he questioned his personal motto.

* * *

Tara hesitated, seeing Ron walk off like he did. As much as she liked Rufus, she didn't think that a naked mole rat was the sum total of the company he really needed right now. However, it was a cold, November night and she was in her cheerleader's indoor uniform for the dance. She was in no condition to follow him at the moment. She spun and hurried for the changing room, determined to keep him from spending too much time alone, when she spotted Monique and Kim slipping down the same corridor that Monique had used to speak to Ron yesterday. Thinking a bit more, Tara slipped into a position from where she could make sure nobody else could overhear the two talking...and where she could.

"I know you don't feel like dancing," Monique said. "Ron didn't either. He's already cut and run. I just wanted a word with you before you leave."

"Okay," Kim sighed. "You said that I had a couple of questions to ask myself. What are they?"

"First, let me say that I don't think the two of you should try to put it back together just yet. Some feelings are still too raw. Before you try, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions."

"Which are?" Kim prompted.

"First, is there anything that the two of you are getting from this boyfriend/girlfriend thing that you weren't getting from being best friends?"

Tara's eyes flew wide at the implications of that question. Since Kim didn't answer immediately, she was pretty sure the redhead's eyebrows were making contact with her scalp.

"I don't mean the graphic stuff," Monique insisted. "I mean, has the way the two of you interact with each other changed much? I see a lot of hand holding and the occasional smooch, but is that all it is?"

"It's different," Kim answered. "I mean, there were make out sessions and we had some playful wrestling matches that turned into make out sessions. If we chilled at my place, there was a lot of cuddling..."

"Okay, but is it something you enjoy?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in Kim's answer.

"How often do you initiate these cute little encounters?"

There was a pause, so Tara was sure that there was at least a slightly troubled expression on Kim's face.

"I...sort of like it when Ron takes the lead," Kim finally answered.

"Okay, here's the second question," Monique announced. "Do you want Ron?"

"Of course I do!" Kim replied. "I miss him, I want..."

"Kim," Tara could almost hear Monique's hand rising up to quiet the redhead. "I mean do you _**want**_ him? Let's take away all the polite language here. Romance is really sex. It doesn't mean...the actual deed, but it means showing an interest in getting there. Now, if you have a desire for him, what you do about it...if anything...and when you do it...if ever...is up to the two of you. But if you don't have at least a little interest in getting naked with him, why are you still dating him?"

Again, silence.

"It's not something you have to answer to me," Monique said. "It's something you have to answer to yourself. Here's something I know; Ron isn't so much upset that you had sex with someone before you got with him, he's shook up about how suddenly it happened."

Tara suddenly payed closer attention.

"Hey!" Again, Tara could almost hear Monique's hand coming up, forestalling Kim's protest. "We've already been through this. What you did with Chase is your business, just like what you do...or don't do...with Ron. You aren't required to have sex with Ron if you want to date him, but if you don't have any interest in it, you should let him know. If you are interested but you don't want to take that step just yet, let him know. Right now, he thinks that you're keeping him around as some sort of placeholder until the next hottie comes along."

"He's not!" Kim sounded appropriately insulted by the accusation, "I mean, I'm not!"

"He's seen you lose your head over hot guys," Monique continued. "And he knows that he isn't one. He's also jealous that he'll never have a hot girl lose her head over him but he knows that this makes things harder for the two of you. You have a history and he doesn't, you have guys wanting you and he doesn't have girls thinking the same way about him."

"What can I do about all of that?" Kim asked.

"First, figure out if you want him that way or not," Monique told her. "If you do, get him alone, talk to him and explain your point of view about the relationship and listen to his. If the two of you can come to an understanding, get back together and don't let him go."

Tara had heard enough. She didn't know the full details but she knew enough. She headed back towards the dance floor and looked for Bonnie. That was easy enough, she just looked for the largest crowd of guys in the place, knowing that Bonnie would be in the middle. Sure enough, the brunette was holding court, working at charming about four guys at the same time while perhaps a dozen more stood around, curious to see how things would work out. As soon as Tara caught Bonnie's eye, she gave a quick glance off to the side of the gym. Bonnie might like attention, but she was a true friend; she quickly excused herself from her admirers...and observers...and met with her blonde friend.

"I need cover," Tara told her. "I'm staying at your house tonight."

"My folks are out and my sisters are being jerks," Bonnie agreed, then lifted an eyebrow and looked around. The two had worked this excuse out over a year ago and in that time, Bonnie had used it perhaps a half-dozen times. This was the first time that Tara had.

"I can't wait much longer," Tara told her. She saw Bonnie note that there were no boy with her at the time, so she glanced around looking for a certain, blonde running back. She favored Tara with a clever smirk. That was fine by Tara; if Bonnie thought she knew what was up, she probably wouldn't bother with learning the truth.

"Go," the brunette told her.

With a quick nod, Tara hurried to the changing room. It was far too cold to be outside in her cheerleader's skirt and halter, so pulled on her street clothes, long coat and gloves, grabbed her gym bag and left the gym via a back door. As she left, closing the door behind her, she saw Kim heading into the changing room. For a moment, Tara hesitated, tempted to talk to her friend but she decided that doing would be more helpful than talking. What she was about to do would benefit the redhead. She turned and jogged off into the cold, dark night.

* * *

Despite the cold, Kim wasn't rushing home. Having changed into warm clothing, the chill didn't bother her and a little solitude was what she needed at the moment. Somehow, walking through dark, empty streets seemed the right setting for the thoughts going through her head.

__"Are you getting anything from the boyfriend/girlfriend thing that you weren't getting from being friends?"__

The answer to that was yes. She liked holding his hand and she liked his arm around her shoulders...usually. She liked the playful wrestling matches that could turn into make out sessions. She liked the occasional dress up date and the more frequent causal dates. In short, she liked the change.

The question now was, did Ron get anything from the boyfriend/girlfriend thing that he wasn't before?

The crass and ignorant answer was sexual; no they hadn't gone all the way but Kim knew that Ron wasn't simply interested in just one thing. The modern, biased and PC answer was that he should be so flattered that she was willing to date him that he shouldn't want anything more, but Kim was neither foolish nor brainwashed by certain, politically correct dogma. She knew that she was hot and it was natural for Ron to desire her; he never expressed that desire in a way that made her uncomfortable, so it wasn't anything that she really thought about.

But, like Monique had said, maybe she should be thinking about it.

During their argument, over a week ago, he had stated that he hoped that they would continue to get closer and more comfortable with each other until it was right for them to enter into a sexual relationship. That had seemed perfectly reasonable to her at the time but now, after talking to Monique, she had to ask herself two more questions: Why hadn't Ron acted on this desire and did she share it?

She thought back to the last missions before Ron learned about Chase. The one immediately preceding the revelation was the one to rescue Rotiffle from Junior...only to find out that Junior had hired the man. They came back knowing they had just set up Bonnie with Junior...not exactly conducive to romance. The one prior to that had been to Killigan's island; there was a mad scramble to get back in time for the homecoming game, so that wasn't a very good one, either. Before that, it was the mission to Yamanouchi.

She remembered the ride home; the plane was comfortable, they had defeated Monkeyfist and Hana was fast asleep. What if Ron had made some sort of a move during that flight? How would she have responded? Would she have shot him down, politely turned down the advance...or would she have welcomed it? Granted it would have been clumsy. For a moment, she chided herself for thinking ill of Ron but then she realized that she had to deal with reality. Ron wasn't a smooth operator and he didn't have any...experience...beyond making out with her.

He was probably nervous. Maybe he would like to make a move, but was afraid of how she would react. She had an admittedly short temper at times, and a sarcastic wit. He was also happy with the sitch as it was, so maybe he didn't want to risk things by trying to get more physical, even if he wanted to. That probably explained why he had never made a move, even if he wanted to. On the other hand, why hadn't she made a move on him? She had to admit that some of the make out sessions had her...interested...in going a little further, even if it wasn't all the way. Why hadn't she pushed things on a little bit?

She actually smiled a little at the thought; a self-mocking, pained smile that nobody on the deserted street was present to see. As bold as she could be when facing supervillains or risking her life to help during a natural disaster, she had trouble telling cute boys that she...thought they were cute. It had taken a great deal of encouragement, from both Ron and her mother, to face Josh. If Eric hadn't made the moves, she wouldn't have done so. Looking back, although she had been a willing, enthusiastic participant with Chase; he had led the way. Even with Ron, he had to make the first move; the words "out there, in here" would always bring a smile to her face. As much as she was an adventurous girl, she wanted the boy to make the first move.

So where did this leave her...other than turning onto her block for the last bit of a walk home on a very cold night? It left her with no answers to the questions she now knew that she needed to resolve...if she was going to put things back together with Ron and actually make it work. She wanted Ron as her boyfriend, but was it her stubbornness, her determination to succeed at what she tried? Okay, she enjoyed being his girlfriend and he enjoyed being her boyfriend, but was that enough?

She slipped in the front door and thought for a moment. As the team mascots, her brothers were welcome at the dance but weren't really into that scene. They were hanging with Cousin Larry tonight and wouldn't be back until morning. Her father was relaxing in his own way, studying specifications for a new rocket booster and jotting down notes on how it would affect the latest interplanetary probe.

"Hey Kimmie," he greeted her, not looking up from his papers. "You're in early. Did you have a good time at the dance?"'

"It was okay," Kim tried to keep her voice natural.

"So, where's Ronald?"

"He took a beating during the game," she pointed out. "So he called it an early night." That was true enough, she supposed.

"Ah, well, tell him I said he played a good game, the next time you see him."

Kim didn't know if she should be thankful that her father hadn't noticed that the two of them were having a rough time or irritated about it. At the moment, she was going to take advantage of his obliviousness. She walked into the kitchen, where her mother was frosting a cake.

"Hey Kimmie," her mother used the same greeting, but actually looked up from what she was doing. She frowned slightly. "I thought that you and Ronald would be hungry."

"I..." Kim wondered just how much to tell her.

"You and him are having some rough times," she interrupted. "I've noticed that he hasn't been around very much lately. Is it something you want to talk about?"

"Yes!" Kim felt like a drowning person who had just been thrown a rope. "I really need to talk about Ron...and other boys."

Her mother was a very smart woman; she had to be in order to be a neurosurgeon, but she was also intuitive. Where her father would have taken her statement to mean that she wanted to talk about boys, her mother knew immediately that this was about the relationship with her boyfriend. Before she knew it, Kim was herded out of the kitchen and into her room. There, not on speaker phone and with the tweebs away, she was able to really talk.

She didn't say Chase's name, nor did she say where or when the fling took place. Much as with Ron, she didn't go into details but she admitted tracking the young man in question down a couple of weeks later, having another fling, then realizing that she wanted to have a proper boyfriend. After a deep breath, she told about Ron finding out. While she didn't describe the sitch at Wannaweep, since her mother would have been able to figure out more than she wanted to reveal. Instead, she said that the young man had been antagonistic towards Ron, but had apologized at a later time. Finally, she admitted that she didn't tell Ron about meeting the man later, that Ron found out and used a college visit to talk to the guy directly. She finished with her talk to Monique.

For a moment, her mother just looked at her. "It seems that Monique was trying to tell you something important all along," she finally said. "Let's get the important things out of the way right now; your worth as a girlfriend, as a person, isn't dependent upon you having sex with someone."

"I know that," Kim nodded.

"Okay, the fact that you had sex with...this young man...doesn't mean that you're obligated to have sex with subsequent boyfriends. Sex is not the measure of your fondness for them."

"I understand that, too," she insisted.

"Good, because I'm about to point out Ron's point of view," her mother continued. "First of all, learning about your fling in the way that he did wasn't nice; it makes it seem that you were hiding it from him. Finding out that you didn't tell the whole truth was even worse, which makes him wonder _why_ you were hiding things from him. The only conclusion that he can come up with is that you were keeping this other boy secret from him, so that you would be free to pursue him again, at a later date."

"But I..." Kim tried to interrupt, but Anne firmly waved her to silence.

"We're talking about Ron's point of view, not yours," she insisted. "Now, while Ron doesn't look at sex as the final goal in his relationship with you, he has to wonder where he's coming up short when the two of you have been dating for almost half a year and haven't taken that step, but you took that step with the other boy. It's not a comment on you, but a question of his worth."

Kim could only nod.

"Then, while it doesn't sound pretty, there's the fact that you have some history and he doesn't." Anne continued. "As much as it's a joke to hear about people complaining about 'the count', there's some justification for it. Whenever two people get together, they sort of share the baggage they both bring. Being the one who has to deal with more baggage than he brought isn't easy, so if one partner has a significantly higher count than the other, there could be resentment."

"But Ch...er...the other boy was my only one!" Kim protested.

"But it's one against zero," Anne pointed out. "Percentage wise, that's infinity. It's sort of like dating with a two year age difference. When it's a sixteen year old and a fourteen year old, it's a major issue. When it's an eighteen year old and a sixteen year old, it's just an issue. When it's a twenty-four year old with a twenty-two year old, it's not an issue at all."

"So what do I have to do?" Kim asked.

"Go into this with open eyes," Anne told her. "The first thing is to ask yourself if you want to keep dating him or, more to the point, start dating him again. Technically, he broke up with you."

"Yes, I want to date him," Kim answered.

"Okay, then you have to accept the fact that he's going to have some resentment," Anne informed her. "Not only because you didn't trust him enough to be honest with him, but because you had a romantic tryst that's going to be off the table for him once the two of you start dating again. There's nothing that you can really do about it, but assure him that once you start dating again, he's the only one for you."

"So, I have to deal with his insecurities?"

"Do you think he's the only one?" Anne smiled at her daughter. "I remember someone getting incredibly insecure about a certain, Japanese girl on a couple of occasions, even though Ron never had any romantic history with her and you weren't even dating Ron the first time you met her. Now, imagine if there had been a fling between them when Ron was in Japan, how would you have reacted?"

"I wouldn't have gotten upset!" Kim insisted.

Anne just looked at her, a slight smile on her face.

"Okay, I went off the deep end the way it was," Kim finally admitted. "I would have been worse if I thought that they had been intimate."

"Now, what if this girl..." Anne prompted.

"Yori," Kim supplied.

"What if your first time seeing Yori was after you and Ronald started dating?" The older redhead asked.

Kim flinched.

"Okay, you're finally looking at this without your pride clouding things," Anne noted. "Now, what if there had been a history between the two, not just her being attracted to him and Ron not picking up on her body language, but them having become lovers? Then, you find out that he failed to tell you?"

Kim flinched again.

"Then, when he finally admits to it, you find out later that he returned to Japan for another tryst, but didn't bother to tell you about it?"

"I wonder if he's keeping it secret so I can't figure out that he can go back for yet another round, any time he feels like it," Kim admitted.

"It's not pretty," Anne admitted. "But that's what Ron's feeling about you right now." The older redhead drew a deep breath. "Here's something else you may have to deal with. What if he asks you, point blank, why you didn't tell him when Tara and Yori were interested in him?"

"How was I supposed to know that he didn't?" The younger redhead demanded. Anne just looked at her, patiently.

"Fine," she sighed. She dropped her chin into her hand, trying to recall her thoughts during those times. It took her awhile, but her eyes suddenly flew wide with a certain realization. "I was feeling a lot like I was when Felix showed up and they became friends." She realized. "Ron had been my friend for so many years, yet now he was spending time with someone else! I...I didn't want to share him with anyone."

"Yet, he never interfered when you were crushing on Josh."

"I guess I'm really selfish," Kim groaned.

"No more than most people," Anne assured her. "You just have the drive and confidence to make your jealous impulses come true...at times. It's something that you need to recognize and control. However, there's one other thing you have to think about. Let's say that you manage to apologize to him for not trusting him with the truth, he's able to set his own insecurities aside and the two of you get back together. You're eventually going to have to deal with sex."

"But you just said..." Kim tried to interrupt again.

"Kimmie, I said that your worth and affection are not measured by your having sex with a boyfriend," Anne refused to be dissuaded. "This isn't about that. Monique gave you some good advice and you only half listened. Once you peel back all the polite language, romance really is about sex, it's the difference between being best friends and being his girlfriend. You're going to have to ask yourself if you see yourself getting into a physical relationship with Ron some day. If the answer is no, you're probably better off not dating him. If the answer is yes, the two of you will eventually face another aspect to your relationship."

Kim didn't have an answer.

"Think things through," Anne told her daughter. "Just remember, I'll be here to talk to you, whatever you decide."

"Just not on speaker phone again," Kim insisted.

"That was a mistake," Anne admitted. "Romance and attraction aren't logical things. You have to think with your emotions and that can get you into trouble. But if you put a little logic in with the emotion, I'm sure you can come up with the right thing to do.

"Thanks mom," Kim hugged the older redhead, who left her room. Kim hoped that she would finish frosting the cake, because she could use a shot of comfort food. However, she also had some thinking to do. She didn't have any less thinking to do than she had before she talked with her mother, but she felt better about it.

* * *

His attic room wasn't heated all that well so cold nights weren't very pleasant. Still, his father had gotten him a small space heater, so it was warm enough for Rufus...and for him...right next to his console. It was comfortable, but he couldn't get his mind on the game. He'd rather be with Kim at the dance, or maybe at her place, or even downstairs in the living room, cuddling on the couch...but he wasn't. What really bothered him was that trying to bash zombies in cyberspace was the smarter thing to do...but that didn't make if feel any better. Even if they managed to put their friendship back together, he was going to miss being her boyfriend.

"It was a mistake from the beginning," he confessed to his rodent companion. "She's Kim Possible. She succeeds at everything she does and looks great doing it. Why did I ever think she would fall for someone like me?"

"Smooch smooch," the rat squeaked at him. Rufus turned his back to him, crossing his forelegs and mimicking a deep hug.

"Alright, we kissed...a lot," Ron admitted. "But I can't picture it going any further than that"

Rufus raised a non-existent eyebrow and gave him a piercing look.

"No, that's not all I want from her," Ron insisted. "I love being her boyfriend but...being a teenage boyfriend is about all that I'm ever going to be."

Again, Rufus glared at him.

"Yes, I like being her boyfriend, but where does that leave me when she finds someone she wants like that? Eventually, she's going to find a hot guy and I'm going to be out of her life. At least this way, we can be friends again."

Another beady-eyed glare.

"Yes, I talked to her about it!"

The glare didn't waver.

"Okay, I didn't talk to her about it so much as tell her what I had decided, but it's for the best!"

Rufus rubbed at the top of his head.

"This is a lot different than when she had me get that haircut! She thought she knew what was the best for me, but I know whats best for the two of us. This will hurt, but we'll get through it."

Arms crossed, Rufus glared at him.

"I was...I was just her rebound," Ron insisted. "It was good for her and it was good for me, but it's gone on long enough. It's time for the rules to be followed again. She's Kim Possible, she has great guys coming out of the woodwork to meet her. When was the last time a great girl showed up and just threw herself at me?"

The doorbell interrupted any response Rufus might have had. Shrugging, Ron patted his shoulder prompting Rufus to climb to his shoulder. With his little buddy in place, he walked downstairs, during which the bell rang again. He opened the door to reveal.

"Tara?"

"Hey Ron," the blonde cheerleader greeted him. "Are you going to invite me in, or leave me out in the cold?"

* * *

_A/N: Thanks to Mindless Violence Fan for an idea I incorporated into this chapter. As always, big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	6. Chapter 6

"I...um..." Ron didn't know what to say.

"It's very cold out here," Tara reminded him, encouraging him to do something.

"Oh!" He slapped his forehead. "Of course, come in." He stepped away from the door so that she could enter. "Can I take your coat?" He asked, once he closed the door behind her.

"Being a gentleman?" She allowed him to help her remove it, then watched as he hung it in a nearby closet, along with her gym bag.

"It's still just a little cold in here, isn't it?"

"Oh, let me get the thermostat up a little," Ron rushed to take care of that detail. "Rufus and I were just upstairs in my room, bashing some zombies online. We kind of let it get cold down here. Won't you be seated?"

Tara took a seat on the couch while Ron decided that he could do better than just warming the house with the furnace. Despite his strong views on risk, his father kept a supply of firewood for their fireplace, saying that sometimes, enjoyment was worth the increased peril from fire. The fire was already laid, so Ron only had to set a match to the tinder. While the fireplace wouldn't keep the whole house warm, it kept the living room toasty.

"So, what brings you away from the dance on a cold night like tonight?" Ron asked her, once he had the fire going.

"Oh, the dance wasn't all that interesting," Tara answered.

This prompted a pointed look from Ron. He had been to plenty of high school dances and knew that Tara loved them. Even though she was one of the prettiest girls at school, she was also one of the most approachable. She was known for pulling shy boys out onto the floor, dancing with them, then pulling shy girls out as well and pairing them up. Ron idly wondered just how many dates took place because of her spontaneous matchmaking efforts.

"Okay, I thought you could use some company tonight," she admitted, in response to his odd look.

"Are you sure Bonnie isn't putting you up to this?" He asked her.

"She's trying," she admitted. "But I'm here because it's my choice."

"I don't need your pity," he sighed.

"Are you really going to chase me back out into the cold?" She asked. "Ron, you've been a friend all through high school. Maybe not as close as I would have liked, but you saved the whole squad at Wannaweep, twice, and you've gone on world saving missions over and over. Now, if I can be here for you when you're feeling down and spend the evening with a cute, nice guy, what's the problem?"

"Did Bonnie tell you to say the last part?" He asked, his voice bitter.

"No! I meant that!" She jumped to her feet, an angry expression on her face and her very posture telling him how offended she was.

"Sorry! Sorry" He put up his hands in an 'I surrender' gesture. "I'm just...not used to pretty girls showing up and being nice to me."

"Well, you can either keep insulting me until I leave or we can try to enjoy ourselves."

"You know, that's a great idea," he told her. "Are you hungry?"

"A little," she admitted, not following his logic.

"Great! I was about to throw some quesadillas together for Rufus and me, would you care to join us?"

"Sure," she agreed.

"I'm not a great entertainer," he told her. "But dad finally sprang for a streaming service...something about it being less risky to be entertained at home that going out...so we have movies and music on the television. I can bring my gaming console down if you'd like, and the folks have a decent stereo system. I'll get the food going if you want to pick out a movie or some tunes."

"That sounds nice," she admitted. "Hey Rufus, do you have any suggestions?"

Ron left his little buddy to show Tara around while he prepared dinner. Despite being her classmate for almost four years, and a teammate for better than two of them, he really didn't know what she liked to eat. Well, that was fine. One of the nice things about quesadillas was that they were easy and quick to make, so he prepared a variety of the treats, some with meat, some with veggies, some with both but all with cheese. He also prepared a series of dipping sauces for them and a batch of hot apple cider with cinnamon and cloves.

"Sorry for the delay," he stated, as he brought out dishes, silverware and cups for three. The Stoppables had a casual dining table in the kitchen, but the more formal table was closer to the fireplace. He thought that a proper host would make sure that a guest was warm.

"No problem," she assured him. "Rufus worked me through the menus, so I have music and movies. The food smells wonderful."

"Well, it should just be a minute or two more," he told her.

It took him two trips to carry first the food, then the drink to the table. During the first trip, he noted that Tara had turned on the stereo and was swaying to a slow-paced, romantic beat.

"Food's ready," he told her.

"It can wait a minute," she told him. "I think you owe me a dance."

"Oh...well...I guess..."

"Make that two," she insisted. She poked at the playlist and selected an upbeat, swing type song.

There was just enough room in the Stoppables' living room, after he moved the coffee table, for two people to do a swing dance. It was fun and despite his depression over breaking things off with Kim, despite the increasing soreness he felt from the game, he found himself feeling better. Then, the next song kicked on. Tara had selected a slow one.

Her arms slid around his neck and his arms around her waist and they swayed to the slow, simple beat. Her head came to rest on his shoulder and the scent of her hair filled his nose, a wonderful, intoxicating smell. For a moment, he simply lost himself in the moment, entranced by the lovely, young woman with him right now.

Then, he came to his senses. She was here to keep him company when he was down and lonely. Tomorrow, she would once again be Tara, the pretty girl who had guys a lot better than him chasing her.

The song came to an end and her arms slowly released him. He stood there, awkwardly, for a moment until he managed to bring his vocal cords into operation again, suggesting that they eat. Tara seemed disappointed at the suggestion, but she quickly agreed. He knew that she would; much like football players, it wasn't a good idea for cheerleaders to eat a full dinner before a game. Since the game, neither had had a chance to grab a meal or even hit the snack table at the dance. All people, from bottom feeders like him to food chain elite like her, needed to eat.

Dinner proved to be more enjoyable than he thought it would. She commented on his cooking, being mostly complimentary. There was joking and giggling as the three of them sampled the various quesadillas, and how each creation was complimented by each of the sauces. When it was done, he had to insist that she, as the guest, relax while he took care of the dishes. Despite the fact that he was moving again, he was getting stiffer and more sore from the beating he had endured earlier.

"So, what do you do for fun?"

Ron didn't really want to answer the question. Sure, he liked not being normal but...it sounded so pathetic when he thought about telling Tara. Finally, he decided that he wasn't very good at lying.

"We bash zombies in cyberspace," Ron answered. "We check out movies and we watch the GWA."

"Oh come on!" Tara chided him, but she was smiling while she did it. "You watch professional wrestling? It's fake!"

"So is Swan Lake," Ron protested, in mock outrage. "So is The Nutcracker."

"But, it's not competition," she pointed out. "The winner is chosen before the match!"

"So is Shakespeare," Ron countered. "Do you really think that Macbeth won't kill the king?"

She could only smile and shake her head.

"Hey, there isn't any GWA action on right now, anyway. Would you care to smash some zombies? Felix was on line earlier, maybe we can get together and do some four-way action."

"I've never done that," she admitted. "Maybe it's time to give it a try."

"Wait just a minute," he requested. "I'll have us set up here in no time."

"You don't have..." she protested, but it was too late. Even when hurting, Ron moved fast. Rufus on his shoulder, he was already up the stairs. She stood there, bemused, while she heard rattling and thumping from up above. Then, pounding footsteps preceded the boys' reappearance, thundering down the stairs.

Still bemused, Tara watched while Ron and Rufus connected a gaming console to the Stoppables' television. Rufus disappeared behind the appliance, dealing with hard-to reach connections while Ron connected two headsets and a miniature headset, along with joysticks, to the console. Moments later, she was sitting between Ron and Rufus, talking to Felix on the headset, and learning the basics of zombie-bashing.

To her surprise, she enjoyed it.

It didn't take long before two more hours had gone by and Ron was showing signs of extreme fatigue, as well as injury.

"Dad told me I can drive the car in case of necessity," Ron told her, once they all decided that they had dismembered enough digital undead. "It wouldn't do to have a lady walk home on a night this cold."

She was tempted to tell him that she had a story in place, that she could stay overnight, but she decided that it was too forward. He didn't need anyone keeping an eye on him overnight. He was shook up over his breakup, but he wasn't so shook up that he was about to do something rash. Besides, Rufus was close by. Instead, she accepted his offer, contenting herself with a quick peck on his cheek when he dropped her off.

* * *

As much as Monique considered Ron a friend, she was a closer friend to Kim. It wasn't easy to try to be friends to both parties during a breakup, even if she was convinced that the breakup was temporary. This meant that Kim would probably get upset with her if she hung with Ron very much. Fortunately, Tara was on her side, so she was able to drive home to the boy that there would be no dating until she deemed the breakup permanent, then leave him under the blonde girl's supervision.

It was a perfect setup. Even though it had become an open secret that Kim and Ron weren't exactly an item at the moment, Tara acting as a double agent meant that Bonnie wouldn't try to get another member of her posse to make a move. While there was a girl or two that she suspected might be interested in the running back, Tara's presence near him kept them away. Tara was such a sweetheart that nobody was about to try to get with a guy they thought she had her eyes on and hot enough that everybody would think that it was a lost cause, anyway. That only left her to worry about keeping Kim safely single until such time that the two could put it back together.

It was an interesting challenge. The fact that Kim was gorgeous and famous meant that the potential pool of guys interested in her was much greater than the tri-city area. This should have made Monique's job more difficult, but there were some factors that made it easier, as well. For one thing, a lot of guys bought into the stereotypes that Bonnie promoted; that cheerleaders dated jocks. That meant that very few non-jocks were going to think they had a chance. Almost to a man, the Middleton football team wasn't about to make a move, there seemed to be an unwritten code among guys that you didn't date a bro's ex for a certain amount of time. While Ron wasn't friends with the entire team, those who didn't like him understood that he was the key to getting the to a state title, so they were also keeping their distance...at least for the moment.

Kim was also not interested in a long-distance relationship...much to Monique's relief. That meant that nobody outside of the tri-city area was going to be an issue. In addition, the redhead's temper was well known within Middleton High, meaning that only the most confident of guys would risk making a move on her. However, most attractive, confident guys already had steady girlfriends and Kim wasn't attracted to the type of guy who would drop his girlfriend and try to move up. The result was that the most likely guys to try to make a move on her were confident, cute jocks within the tri-city area but not on the Middleton football team. Fortunately, Monique's gossip network extended beyond the halls of Middleton High, so she had a bit of warning about potential suitors.

The real problem lay in dealing with the two personalities. Ron had an over-sized inferiority complex, convinced that any guy out there was better than him. Kim's past of looking past him when she met a hottie only reinforced this. Kim was the opposite, confident to the point that she couldn't bring herself to consider another point of view. Monique was convinced that she had to take care of both issues before getting the two to talk to each other.

That morning, as was her habit at the start of the week, she had stopped by Kim's locker for a little chat. Kim hadn't been angry or defiant, she had been subdued. "Usual place, usual time," was all the redhead had said. Consequently, she was waiting in the Home Ec Room during third period.

"I didn't even think what Ron would think," Kim admitted, walking into the nearly empty room. "I had a talk with my mom on Friday and she helped me work through it. I did just about everything possible to make Ron think I was planning on dropping him, didn't I?"

"Pretty close," Monique admitted.

"He was out of line by going to talk to Chase," Kim continued. "But he wasn't the only one. A couple of months ago, I took his place on a mission to help Yori. There was never anything between the two of them, but I was suspicious of him."

"You told me that he didn't seem eager to tell her that the two of you were an item," Monique pointed out.

"And I didn't tell him about Chase at all," Kim sighed. "Back in Southville, I never told Chase that I was an item with Ron. Granted, he knew about it from the tabloids, but where was the declaration on my part, right in front of him, like I demanded from Ron with Yori?"

"Hey, you made one mistake," Monique tried to interrupt her. Admitting a mistake was one thing, beating yourself up about it was another.

"There I was, getting upset about how childish he was about being insecure about my ex, when I was even worse about someone he had never even been with."

"That's enough of that," Monique told her. "The important thing was to get you to see his point of view. You have. Now, we have to deal with his issue and get the two of you back together. If nothing else, it will save everyone on your squad."

"I'm not that bad," Kim insisted.

"You don't have your ears out like I do," Monique retorted. "Your brothers have declared practices to be 'the soccer fiasco all over again', while half the girls have debated changing schools."

"I guess I take care of stress by getting a little physical," Kim admitted.

"A little?" Monique arched an eyebrow.

"Okay, I work out hard and I get everyone around me to work hard, as well!"

"Better," Monique grinned. "Now that we've taken care of your issue, all we have to do is deal with..."

"We haven't dealt with my issues," Kim interrupted. "You gave me some good advice; you told me that if I didn't want him, I'd be better off being friends."

"I take it you don't want him," Monique tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"I don't know," Kim admitted. "I try to picture what would have taken place if during one of our make out sessions, or on the way back from a mission, he'd have tried..." her voice faded away. "I just can't seem to picture it and I don't know if I want him to try or not."

"Have you thought of making the first move?"

"I...don't like doing that," Kim told her. "Maybe I'm afraid of rejection but..."

"You like the guy to take the initiative?" Monique asked. "And the risk?"

"It doesn't sound nice but...yes." Kim took a deep breath. "But, whenever I think of him with another girl..." her hands clenched into fists. "I kept thinking about what that makes me...I don't want him in that way but I can't stand to think of anyone else wanting him in that way. I'm trying to have my cake and eat it to? Or, am I trying to keep him around as a backup?"

Monique didn't have an answer.

"I didn't know what to do with myself over the weekend," Kim continued. "I'm so used to having him around; around to talk to, around to do things with, even around to kiss and cuddle. I don't know what to do when he isn't around. I'm thinking I should try to patch things up as friends."

"No!" Monique insisted. "Let's give it at least this week. Then, let's put you together as more than friends."

"But if I don't really want him..."

"You said you like to kiss and cuddle," Monique pointed out. "That's a step in the right direction. We'll just keep the two of you taking those steps."

"Is it fair to him?" Kim asked. "Face it, Monique, he was my rebound. I felt so betrayed by Eric that I went for the guy I knew would never betray me."

"Well a rebound just might work out," Monique insisted. "Like I said, let's keep the two of you apart until this weekend, at least. He's missing you as much as you're missing him. The two of you will remember it when you're together again."

"Sure he's missing me," Kim grumbled. "I'm sure that Tara being around him makes him think of me every minute."

"Hey, she's on our side," Monique insisted. "She's blocking any schemes Bonnie comes up with."

Kim didn't look completely convinced.

* * *

"Okay, men," Barkin lectured his team, stalking back and forth in front of them while imparting wisdom and motivation. "Last week, you played Middleton's first home playoff game in many years, and you represented your school with honor and passion!"

The team roared its agreement.

"But that was last week!" The big man snapped at them. "Last week no longer matters, it's this week you need to worry about. While you are on this field, I demand full concentration and full devotion. We have already honored our school, but it's time to honor them even more. Our wills must never waver, our commitment must never slacken, our efforts must never fade. Your classmates have entrusted you with the sacred duty to represent them upon the field, so your determination must not falter."

The cheering was subdued. Ron, and everyone else on the team knew when Barkin was getting ready to unleash a smoker of a workout.

"Yes, physical exertion will strengthen your wills and your bodies," the coach announced. "But we will also concentrate upon the mental aspect of our upcoming contest. My opposing coach has spent time studying last week's game, just as I have spent time studying his. Both of us will prepare our teams to face the other based upon this and both of us will attempt to predict how the other will react." He paused a moment. "Men, I take great pride in the fact that upon this field, I am shaping your characters as well as your bodies, so listen up!"

The team payed rapt attention, everyone aware that every minute spent in this lecture was a minute that Barkin couldn't physically torture them.

"The key to interpersonal relationships is understanding the other point of view," Barking declared. "Understanding the other person's strengths, weaknesses, wants and needs. If you are in an adversarial relationship, which each of you are with your upcoming counterpart, you ruthlessly exploit this knowledge to crush him. If you are in a business relationship, you match one party's strengths with the other's weaknesses to mutual benefit. If you are friends, you acknowledge the other's point of view, assess if that point of view is valid or not, and adjust your behavior appropriately."

"However, we are currently dealing with organized competition," he announced to the team. "And physical competition at that. We are putting ourselves into our opponents' decision cycle while assessing their strengths and weaknesses. There will be no thin skins here, we must take an unbiased look at our own capabilities and shortcomings so that we can compensate for them with our strengths. Now, we have an extremely fast and elusive running back in Stoppable. We have an athletic, if somewhat undersized, offensive line. We have a defense that's strong, but not particularly fast. I could go on and on, but that would be counterproductive. It is time to accept our weaknesses, assess our strengths and use them to achieve our goals. Now, enough talking! Everyone to your position coaches for our first round of conditioning drills!"

There wasn't time or energy for deep thoughts, what cognitive abilities Ron had left during the intense workout were devoted to the new plays...and the new role, he was going to have to play. It wasn't until after practice, after his shower and he was on his way to his shift at Smartymart that the fact that he was no longer Kim's boyfriend...no longer her best friend...crashed back down on him. He missed her terribly, but he was still sure that he was doing the right thing. Maybe it was like football; it hurt while he was doing it but it was beneficial to everyone in the long run.

Was it fortunate or unfortunate that Barkin was on his case in the classroom, as well as the football field? As much as he wanted to mope about his situation with Kim, Barkin didn't give him the luxury. Tuesday abused him of the notion that the coach would let his players slide academically. Ron wasn't ready for a discussion in class and Barkin pounced on him. The big man wasn't about to let him out of practice to serve detention, so he assigned detention during Ron's free period and unleashed extra laps on him to drive the message home. Ron's only consolation was that he wasn't the only player to pay the price for thinking he could slack off a bit.

It was fortunate that he didn't have much time to feel sorry for himself during school or the couple of hours it took to do his homework after practice and/or Smartymart. It was unfortunate that all of his feeling sorry for himself got concentrated into those few hours he had each day to actually think about his situation. When he played Zombie Mayhem with Felix, he was just playing video games with a friend. He was no longer playing video games with a friend between times that he was spending time with his girlfriend. When he worked at Smartymart, he was just doing a job for pay, he wasn't earning money so that he could treat her the way she deserved. When he watched some GWA action, he was enjoying the Pain King/Steel Toe rivalry, not fitting it in when his girlfriend, who was sure to disapprove of it, couldn't see.

He didn't know how long heartbreak was supposed to last. He hoped that he would get over it soon but at the same time, he wanted it to last because it meant that he was still thinking of her. Was this normal? He talked to Felix but his friend wasn't much help; Felix had gone through a crush or two, but had never had a steady girlfriend, so he didn't know much about getting over a breakup. He took advantage of Ron's distraction by absolutely destroying him during a competitive bout of Zombie Mayhem. In a way, it was reassuring that no matter what happened, some things would remain the same.

* * *

This situation couldn't last forever.

Monique liked a good drama; nobody could be a queen of gossip and not like drama...drama made for good gossip. However, being involved in the drama, even from the sidelines, wasn't very much fun if it lasted very long. Gossip...and drama...were better when you weren't emotionally involved with whomever was hurting.

Kim had been the first person to really befriend her when she moved to Middleton and that was something that Monique wasn't about to forget. Of course, the fact that Kim was friendly, kindly, shared quite a few interests with her and still had enough of a snarky attitude to get along with her meant that she didn't really have to remember that the redhead was her first friend in a new town. The two of them were well matched for friendship. Like a good friend, Monique liked to see Kim happy and Kim was generally happy when she was with Ron. This breakup was making Kim less than happy and it was starting to wear on Monique, and others.

If her sources were accurate, the only reason that the entire cheer squad hadn't defected was that they didn't have the energy to do so after Kim's workouts. Of course, this had the benefit that Bonnie was generally too tired and sore to be her usual, Queen B self. However, the benefit didn't match the costs. Monique liked to see Bonnie put in her place but she didn't care for it to be done because Kim and Ron were both miserable.

There was some progress: Kim had come to see Ron's point of view and thought it was valid, even though she wasn't about to apologize for her attitude. That was a good thing but there were still some issues to deal with before the two of them could really get back together and generate juicy stories for Monique to distribute...when appropriate. Much to her surprise, Ron was the bigger problem than Kim was. Being a gossip distributor meant that you had your beliefs challenged on a fairly regular basis. Conventional teen wisdom held that Ron should be willing to drop any conviction that he held, in return for dating someone as hot as Kim. Ron wasn't.

Monique liked Ron. Despite the fact that he had his moments of childishness and randomness, he was a generally good guy. He had absolutely no bias based on race or religion; and he seemed mostly unaware that his best buddy was actually in a wheelchair. However, Monique was now forced to believe that everyone had a certain, finite amount of pigheadedness and that those who weren't generally pigheaded made up for it by being extremely pigheaded on specific items. Case in point, the boy just couldn't seem to grasp the concept that while Kim had a fling in the past, it didn't mean she was going to have one again. The few conversations that she had managed to have with him...since the playoff game...made her all too aware that the boy was convinced that Kim was going to drop him for the first piece of prime-grade hottie that became available. He had dug in his heels, metaphorically speaking, and wouldn't budge. He was also convinced that breaking up was the right thing to do for Kim, which made things even worse. If someone was being a jerk and knew it, he would eventually give up if he wasn't getting anything out of it. If someone was being a jerk but was convinced he was doing the right thing, he would never stop.

Kim still wasn't over her problem of not knowing if she really desired Ron or not. If the redhead had shown the attitude that she wasn't about to pursue a physical relationship with the boy, but wouldn't let any other girl try, Monique would have slapped her face and told her to grow up. The problem, if one could consider it a problem, was that Kim understood her own attitude and knew that it was horrid...she just couldn't reconcile it. Monique just couldn't bring herself to hate on Kim for having an attitude that she knew wasn't right.

"So, how's it going?" One thing that had grown out of the drama was that the two now met in the Home Ec. Classroom, every day.

"I guess it is what it is," Kim sighed. "Bonnie's still snarky, the rest of the squad is surly, my brothers are thinking about applying for legal emancipation in order to get out of the house with me and I still don't appreciate the time that Tara's spending with Ron."

Monique was forced to admit that the blonde girl might be taking things too far with running interference. At first, Monique thought that it was a good thing, and not just to keep Bonnie from trying anything different to make the breakup permanent. Her mother had a saying, "either cook or get out of the kitchen." Monique had some hopes that the feigned interest that Tara was showing Ron would eventually cause Kim to realize that she really wanted Ron, and be ready to take action. If Ron wasn't being pigheaded about Kim's past fling, it might have worked. Monique had to sigh, the situation was what the situation was. All the wishing wasn't going to make it different.

"Don't worry about Tara," Monique told her. "Like I said, she's on our side."

"I'm not so sure," Kim admitted. "And I don't know if she should be. Maybe she's a better match for him than I am."

"That's enough of that attitude!" Monique told her. "Tara can take her shot at Ron only after it's over between the two of you. I haven't given up on you two, so you shouldn't either."

"But what should I do?" Kim asked. "Should I just sleep with the guy?"

"No!" Monique was very tempted to slap her friend, but suspected that it would have been about as effective as her attempt to slap Ron had been. "You only do that for one reason...you want to do it with who you do it with! You are not going to use it like a tool to keep him. You have way too much class, way too much self-respect, to take that route."

"So what do I do?" Kim repeated. "I...I want to want him that way, but I don't know if I really do."

"We get you back together," Monique insisted. "We get the two of you kissing and making out and eventually you're going to realize that he's a guy and you'll want him. We get the two of you together, and eventually you'll have your moment when you make everyone within a half-mile learn your name and his religion."

"Monique!" Kim chortled a little. Monique would have taken some pride in her blush, but making a redhead blush wasn't really a great accomplishment.

"Let's give it just a little longer," Monique suggested. "You miss him something terrible and he misses you. Once we get the two of you back together, both as friends and as tonsil hockey partners, the two of you will be able to work it out. I've got a couple of promotional tickets to a GWA event this Saturday, right here in Middleton. I know that it isn't exactly your scene, but what if I give them to the two of you? Spend some time together in public, then you'll have some time to talk afterwards, in private."

Monique took some consolation from Kim's hopeful smile, but she was still worried about Ron's attitude.

* * *

"Hey Kimmie, how was school today?"

"Oh! Hi dad, I didn't expect you to be home."

"Launch windows don't work by the forty hour workweek schedule," he told her. "I'm taking time off so that I can be present for a probe launch this weekend. Still, how did school go today?"

"Fine," Kim admitted. "I'm getting ahead in my classes since we're going to be taking off early tomorrow for the game."

"I'm sorry I'm going to have to miss it," James admitted. He hesitated for a short time. "Kimmie, come sit in the den with me for a little while."

Curious about what her father could be thinking of, she complied. Her father seemed hesitant to start speaking, but he forged forward, eventually.

"I know that you think I'm a clueless father," he finally told her. "I guess I live up to some of the stereotypes; technical genius and social idiot, but I'm not as blind as you think I am."

"Dad, I don't..."

"Kimmie, this isn't a good time to spare my feelings," he told her. He took a few moments to get his thoughts organized again. "I'll admit that I've always been nervous about you being around boys. Maybe that's why I approved of you dating Ronald, I know him fairly well and I can scare him, if it really comes down to it."

Kim didn't have an answer to that.

"I know that the two of you are...well...at the very least having a hard time," he finally stated. "I'm glad that it isn't because you moved on to someone new. Every man my age, even someone as socially inept as me, can name three girls from his past. There's the one that got away, the one that could have been, and the one that used me like the rung on a ladder. For the longest time, I thought that you would be the one that could have been for Ronald. I don't know if you'll be the one that got away, but I'm glad that you're not the one that used him as a step up to better things."

"Why does everyone think that I'm going to do that?" Kim demanded. "We're having hard times but it's not because I dropped him for someone else."

"I'm glad to hear that," James told her. "I'm not blind, either. I'm aware that you're a beautiful young woman, who takes after her mother." A deep breath. "Kimmie...I know that I've been content to let your mother deal with your issues, but I've always wanted you to be happy. I talk to your mother and she tells me that part of the problem that you are having could be..." Now, a flinch. "Let's just say some confusion in how you see Ronald."

"That's a polite way of putting it," Kim admitted.

"This may surprise you, but shortly after you were born, I purchased several books on childhood development," he offered a confused smile. "I can understand how physics affects spacecraft trajectories, but I've never been good with interpersonal relationships. With spacecraft, once you have all of the variables, no matter how many, you can predict what the object will do. On the other hand, human emotions are often unpredictable. I wanted to do the best I could for this person I had just helped bring into the world."

The admission made Kim feel much better about her family.

"I can't remember the name of the expert," James continued. "But I remember the hypothesis. He noted that across the globe, regardless of the culture, boys and girls tended to become mildly antagonistic towards each other shortly before adolescence. He postulated that this was to clear the familiarity between boys and girls, a way to make boys and girls stop looking at each other as friends, so that they could start looking at each other as potential...mates."

Kim didn't know if she should be intrigued by the theory or embarrassed that her father was describing it to her.

"You never went through this phase," James recalled. "At least not with Ronald. You were friends with him at five years old and you stayed friends until you were sixteen and started dating. The two of you never walked away from each other and gave yourselves the chance to clear your perceptions." He coughed nervously. "I'm not saying that things are this simple, but maybe this is part of it. You're trying to keep him as a friend while changing the role you want him to play."

"I never thought that my father would try to make it easier to get with a boy," Kim commented, offering a grin through the embarrassment.

"Well, a father wants his daughter to be happy," James shrugged. "And up until a couple of weeks ago, you were happy with Ronald. I'd like to see my daughter smiling again...but only so much," he insisted. "I know that there are still things you prefer to speak about with your mother, that's fine, but I want you to know that I'll make the efforts to be here, as your father, when you need my perspective. I guess we all need to be ready to change our roles."

He paused a moment. "Let me offer one last piece of advice. Make a list of what you like about him and the ways you wish he would change. List what you like doing with him, and what is more fun to do when you're with him. Finally, ask yourself if he fits into the future that you're trying to make for yourself." He took a deep breath, clearly delving into an area he didn't want to visit. "Perhaps you could even list out how you would want a boyfriend to treat you, as opposed to how you want Ronald, your friend, to treat you. If you figure out where you are and where you want to be, it may help you to determine how to get between the points and maybe, you will find it easier to decide what to do about your...Ronald sitch."

* * *

_A/N: Again, big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: If you have read this tale before, please know that I have changed the ending. The change starts towards the end of this chapter._

* * *

So this was respect, this was fear. Ron was seriously wondering why anyone dreamed of inspiring either one.

Maintaining fear and respect took sacrifice, effort and pain...and would be challenged constantly, which would require more sacrifice, effort and pain to maintain. Oh, the Mavericks respected his mad running away skills; that had become obvious on the first two series the Middleton offense had been on the field. "You always start with your strengths," Barkin had told them, while preparing for this game. Middleton's primary strength was Ron running the ball. The Mavericks knew it and were keying on him...painfully.

"Your next step is to exploit the other guy's reaction," Barkin had said, on the sideline, after the second series. "I've spotted the keys, they always have a spy, either a linebacker or a safety, dedicated to Stoppable. It's time to take advantage of this."

It was going to be painful. Any time that Barkin came up with a way to exploit the other team's actions, it resulted in more hits. Ron decided that it was worth it; the Mad Dogs would gain yards and the other team would eventually have to play honestly, which meant that he would gain more yards in the second half.

He almost missed the play, he was so shocked that he actually cared about gaining yards.

They started in their normal set, with Tom, the quarterback, under center and Ron behind the fullback, in the backfield. At the call of "set", Ron shuffled several yards to his right, while Tom kept his eyes on the defense. Sure enough, a safety moved slightly, shadowing Ron. Tom called off the count and on two, Ron shuffled back to his original position. Again, the safety shadowed his move. At the count, Tom took the snap and faked the hand-off to Ron. The line managed to open a gap, which he ran through, only to be met, hard, by the safety. In the meantime, the tight end ran into the spot that the safety had left and caught Tom's pass.

The next play, Ron started the formation in a flanker position and went in motion during the snap count, lining up behind the fullback again. Again, it was a fake hand off but instead of passing the ball, Tom sprinted on a bootleg, getting the first down. The next play was a typical off-tackle hand off, so that Barkin could find out if the Mavericks were still keying on Ron. At the cost of some pain, Ron was able to determine that they were still focusing their attention on him. The next play didn't promise to be any more comfortable.

It was a pitch play, one they had executed dozens of times, designed to get a player with Ron's speed outside where he could make use of it. The Mavericks were ready, swarming out to hem him against the sideline while Mark, one of the wide receivers, slipped his block and ran downfield. Ron didn't have the accurate or long throwing arm that Tom did, but he didn't need it. Mark was behind the defense and wide open. Ron's throw wasn't terribly accurate; Mark had to pause to catch the pass, but he had enough of a head start that he was able to run into the end zone. Ron didn't see it, as it seemed that half of the Maverick team ended the play on top of him.

Barkin wasn't the only coach that could predict, analyze and adapt. The Mavericks' coach had noted what Barkin had; that the Middleton defense was strong but slow. Instead of trying to run the ball, he called for multiple-receiver passing plays. Barkin adjusted by playing deep zones, conceding yards while trying to keep the other team out of the end-zone. On the other side, the Mavericks sought to take Ron out of the game at the expense of allowing the rest of the Middleton offense to run free. The game was fairly close to Middleton, so there were plenty of Mad Dog fans in attendance and everyone was screaming themselves hoarse.

With the Mavericks up by three, midway through the third quarter, Barkin decided that it was time to really punish them for keying so much on Ron. During the count, Tom trotted outside to the left while Ron moved up under center. He stepped back into a shotgun formation and received the snap, sprinting to his right. With most of the Maverick defense pursuing him, he tossed the ball to Mark, who was running back the other way. Caught off-balance, the Maverick Defense rushed after the wide receiver, trying to fight their way past the Middleton offensive line. Instead of trying to run down the sideline, Mark tossed the ball to Tom, who had come back to the center of the field. Tom threw the ball to Ron, who had faked a block then sprinted down the right sideline. He was open and Tom was accurate, resulting in a long, touchdown play.

The trick play seemed to put the Mavericks off-balance on defense. Although their offense drove down the field and scored a field goal on the next drive. With the Mad Dogs back over the ball, Barkin called a series of misdirection plays, getting the defense to run the wrong way while his athletic, if small, offensive line was able to get between them and the ball carrier. It wasn't fast, but it was effective, eating up the rest of the third quarter and putting the ball in the end-zone again, extending the lead.

Again, the Mavericks were able to drive the field in response, but faltered outside the ten yard line. Settling on yet another field goal, they attempted an on-side kick, which failed. With half of the fourth quarter left, Barkin went back to the misdirection plays that had worked the last drive. Desperate, the Mavericks quit keying on Ron and played team defense, which finally freed Ron up to do what he did best. It was just a simple, off-tackle play, but Ron managed to shake a tackle and outrun the tiring defense, putting the game out of reach.

The Mad Dogs were exhausted, but exhilarated, when they piled into the visitors' locker room. Ron barely listened to Barkin's post-game speech, but he knew the basics. Good job, stay out of trouble, be ready to work hard next week. With the game over and the weekend facing him, he was now free to remember that he no longer had his girlfriend, no longer had his best friend, so he simply showered off and joined the rest of the team, filing onto the buses. As was his habit, Barkin had placed himself where each player had to walk right past him, receiving both praise and critique.

"You might want to check your cell phone," the big man instructed Ron, as the boy boarded. "You might have some good news."

Wondering what the mysterious grin the coach had was all about, Ron settled into his seat and did as instructed. He found that he had three messages; one from Monique and two from men he didn't know. Shrugging, he pulled out an earpiece, so the fullback who sat next to him wouldn't have to listen. He decided to get the business out of the way first. He called up the first man's message.

"Ron, you don't know me," the voice announced. "But your coach gave me your number. I'm Fred Beobatcher and I'm a scout for the University of Oregon. I observed your game and I'd like to talk to you about how you could fit in with the Ducks. I understand that you're tired, but if you could give me a call tomorrow, I'm sure that you'll be glad that you did."

Despite his depression, Ron couldn't help but smile a little. He keyed the next message.

"Mr. Stoppable," the next voice addressed him. "Your coach was kind enough to give me your number. I've seen your statistics and I've seen you in action. I'd like to talk to you about attending the University of Wyoming. I know that we're not a powerhouse football program, but I think you can go a long way with us. Give me a call on Saturday and we can discuss things. My name is George Bevakare."

Ron thought about this for a bit. He actually seemed to have a future, but he was still capable of messing things up. He needed to talk to his parents, but they were going to be leaving tomorrow afternoon and they didn't have any experience with college recruiters. He was also shook up over the Kim situation, so he knew he might do something stupid. Thinking a bit, he came up with what he hoped to be a diplomatic response.

"I'm flattered by your interest," he texted both parties. "And I don't want to seem unappreciative. However, I am very young and I would like to discuss your generous offer with my parents, my guidance counselor and my coach before discussing it further. I hope you understand my situation. If acceptable, I will call you next week."

With the official business taken care of, he decided to check what his friend had to say.

"Hey running man," Monique's voice addressed him. "I followed your game as best I could during my shift. Good job, but I guess this means the football season's at least one game longer. Your hard work just earned you more hard work, so I have an idea for some down time. The GWA gave out some promotional tickets for that event they're having in Middleton tomorrow night. What say we cut loose and catch another Pain King vs Steel Toe event, live?"

As much fun as it would have been, events had conspired against him. He sent a quick text back to the girl, asking her to call him when she had a chance. It only took a minute or two before his phone rang.

"So what's up?" Her familiar voice asked.

"I'm afraid I can't make the GWA," he answered, realizing that he would have considered that blasphemy just a few months ago. "I have a shift at Smarty Mart tomorrow morning, then Hana duty tomorrow night, as well as a partner assignment for civics."

"Let me guess," Monique told him. "Tara's your partner."

"Yes, but don't get any ideas," he protested. "She's just sorry for me and doesn't think I should be alone."

"Yeah," Monique's voice clearly told him that she wasn't buying it. "Just be careful about her. You are officially in rebound, which means that any relationship you jump into is a bad idea."

"I got it," Ron's good mood had vanished. "Rebounds aren't good ideas."

"Hey, not all is lost," she told him, clearly missing his implication. "I also got a pay-per-view code. You can watch the event live, from the comfort of your home, while me and Kim catch the event live."

"You're going to talk Kim into going? Good luck with that!"

"She doesn't know yet," Monique paused. "Ron, I'm serious about you two getting back together. She's into you big time and she misses you something terrible. Promise me that you'll talk to her...let's make it Sunday. It doesn't have to be anything major, just head over to her place and talk a little bit, okay?"

"Fine," he agreed. "I don't think it's going to do any good, but I'll do it."

"That's all I can ask."

* * *

Ron didn't know if he was lucky or unlucky that his parents had such a hands-off approach to him. While he would have liked someone older to talk to, any talk about his current girlfriend...or former girlfriend sitch would bring up Kim's affair with Chase and that would get back to her folks. As much as thinking about it still hurt, if and when to tell her folks was up to her. Instead, his parents were either unaware that he and Kim weren't together anymore or they chose not to address it.

It wasn't that they didn't care about him, they just seemed incapable of expressing it. While they hadn't made it to the game, Wade had set them up to view the host school's video footage and they discussed every hit he had taken, every play he had made. When he told them about the two calls from recruiters he had received, they were happy for him and proud of him. As much as he wanted to talk about more, he was still happy when he turned in for the night.

Another good thing about football, and working out under Barkin's regimen, was that no matter how shook up you were emotionally, you usually slept like a log.

Unfortunately, he was the ideal employee for working in Smarty Mart's pet department. He got along with the animals to the point that he could work on autopilot, and that gave him plenty of time...too much time...to think about what he was going to say. Much like when she had the moodulator, he practiced it out loud. It was safe enough; he spent most of the time in the back and the various rodents, fish and other pets weren't about to repeat what he said.

He just took care not to rehearse near the parrots.

"So, what do you think, Rufus?" He asked, while unloading various pet foods from the loading dock.

"Hmph," was all the little guy, perched on his shoulder, would say.

"I've thought about this," he insisted. "It's like the moodulator incident, but it took me longer to realize it."

"Hmph," this time, doubt filled the grunt.

"What do you mean, I'm a quitter?" He demanded of the rodent. A series of grunts answered him.

"It's just the way it is," he insisted. "We were never going to make it as boyfriend and girlfriend. I was just kidding myself." This time, Rufus squeaked at him.

"Yes, I'm miserable," Ron admitted. "But it's better to have a little misery now than a whole lot later." Rufus just sighed.

"Well, we're just about done with the shift," Ron reminded him. "Then it's Hana time and the Civics assignment." Rufus grumbled.

"What's wrong with Tara?" Ron demanded. "She's being nice to me." More grumbling.

"What do you mean, that's what you're worried about?" Rufus merely shook his head.

Ron didn't understand what the little guy meant, but it wasn't time to worry. His shift was at an end, so he went home to play with his little sister. He had to admit that keeping up with Hana was as rough as one of Barkin's workouts, but the little girl was so cute that it was actually fun. Unfortunately, it was also messy. By the time he had played with his sister long enough to get her tired, then fed her and bathed her, it was very close to the time that he agreed to meet Tara. Sure enough, while he was cleaning up, his civics partner showed up.

"Hey Ron," she greeted him, pulling a bag off of her shoulders. He ushered her inside and out of the cold. "Ready to finish off this assignment?"

"Sure," he agreed. "I'm just cleaning up a little." He took her coat and hung it up.

"Ah, Ron?" She asked. "Why are there baby footprints on the ceiling?"

"Hana," he answered. "She isn't just a baby, she's a ninja baby." He picked up his cleaning rod and went to work.

"I thought ninjas were a profession, not a race of people," Tara protested, but she was clearly amused by what he was doing.

"In Hana's case, it's a bit of both," he told her. "I can't give you any details, but I can say this: whenever you mix a ninja baby, a British archaeologist, a monkey-demon and ninja monkeys, you're going to wind up needing a sponge on a stick to clean up the mess."

"You're serious, aren't you?" Tara looked honestly shocked.

Ron simply gestured to the cleaning rod.

"Okay, I need to see this little girl," Tara insisted, once Ron was finished cleaning. "And where's Rufus?"

"Hana's asleep and Rufus is with her," he explained. "Apparently, defying gravity takes a lot of energy."

Finishing up his cleaning task, Ron showed her to Hana's room. Rufus, who was curled up next to the little girl, gave them both a harsh glare when they slipped inside.

"Rufus has very strong opinions about anyone who wakes her up once she's down," Ron whispered to her. "And the little guy holds a grudge."

"She's adorable!" Tara whispered back. For a short time, she could only stare at the infant.

"We better get done with Civics," Ron finally suggested. "You can do more 'Hana-watching' when we're done." Tara giggled, quietly, and let her lead him out of the nursery.

"Aren't we going to your room?" She asked him, when he led her towards the living room. "I thought your computer was there."

"It is," he answered. "But...I..."

"Didn't think it was appropriate to have a girl in your bedroom, especially when your parents are out?" She finished for him, when he hesitated. When he nodded, she giggled. "I think I can trust you, so why don't we work efficiently?"

Fortunately, Ron had kept his room a little tidier than normal, so it wasn't a complete embarrassment. It was a little chilly, so he turned on the space heater. Of course, the two had to sit close together in order to take advantage of the heat, but they kept busy on their partner assignment. Before too much longer, they were finished.

"According to Monique, you're a terrible class partner," Tara told him. "But you were great."

"I guess we all have to grow up a little," he answered.

"So, you have to stay here to keep an eye on Hana," Tara remarked. "What were you planning?"

"Monique set me up with a pay-per-view code," he told her. "I was going to watch some GWA action and see if I could spot her in the crowd."

"Care for some company?" She asked. "I had fun the last time I was here."

Ron couldn't argue with that, so he prepared a light meal while she had some fun with the music again. Very shortly, the two were eating and watching some GWA matches. They commented on the showmanship and the capabilities of the wrestlers, enjoying themselves. Eventually, Pain King faced off against Steel Toe.

"Okay, the athleticism it impressive," Tara pointed out. "But you can see how they're helping each other."

"Are you saying that it's anything short of a demonstration of pure strength and agility?" He demanded, all mock injury.

"Yes," she snickered at him. "Let's do that last move."

"Whoa!" He protested.

"I don't mean the slam," she pointed out. "I mean, let's do the lift. Pain King came charging up like this..."

She rushed towards him and jumped like she was going for a high tackle. Ron caught her.

"Now, when Steel Toe lifted Pain King into the air, Pain King had his hand on his chest, pushing up to help him, like this..."

She placed her hand on Ron's chest while he lifted her over her head.

"You're off center," she told him.

"I have to be careful where I put my hand," he retorted. "Steel Toe can put his hand on Pain King's chest, I can't do that with you!"

"Then get your hand up higher," she told him. With her arm supporting her weight, he was able to shift his hand to a point that provided some balance while preserving both of their dignity.

"Now, try to lift me in the air," she told him.

"You're a lot lighter than Pain King!" Ron protested, lifting her a couple of times in a military press.

"No doubt," she retorted. "But doesn't it make it easier when I help by pressing off of you?"

"Yes, it does," he admitted.

"Okay, now, when PK slid down..." she shifted her weight and Ron lowered her to the floor, but her arms wound up around his neck, holding her up. Their faces were very close. With a surge, she pulled herself back up and brought her mouth up to his. Caught by surprise, having a lovely young woman kissing him, he wrapped his arms tighter around her waist and kissed her back.

This was wrong.

He had just broken up with Kim and wasn't in any condition for a rebound. He had promised to try to patch it back up...even if he didn't think it would do any good. He felt Tara's tongue slide across his teeth and her mouth open wider while she gripped him tighter, clearly wanting to deepen the kiss.

**_"_**_You are officially in rebound, which means that any relationship you jump into is a bad idea."_

**"If I see a pretty girl, I'll chat her up. If she's down for chatting, I'll flirt. If she's into flirting, I'll take it farther, as long as she's down for it."**

_"You're both my friends and you're happier when you're a couple."_

**"You and Kim are teenagers, so the chances of you making this last forever are pretty slim."**

He tried to speak, he tried to ask Tara why she was doing this but when he opened his mouth, her tongue snaked inside and, without him thinking about it, his did the same to her mouth. Eventually, they had to break for air. He lowered her to the ground and she left her arms around his neck, resting her head against his chest while they both struggled to catch their breath.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," she murmured, once she had regained enough oxygen to speak.

**"She didn't say anything about having a boyfriend..."**

In response, he leaned down and kissed her. He felt her lips smile as her arms tightened around his neck again. He felt her gently guide them to the couch, where they sat next to each other. She leaned back, drawing him partially over her.

This had to be wrong!

He was supposed to be getting over Kim. What would she think if he and Tara were suddenly a couple? Did this mean that Tara wanted to be a couple? How far did she want to take this?

How far did he want to take this?

**"...I'll take it farther, as long as she's down for it."**

Was that the answer, to have Chase's attitude? He had tried to be a proper boyfriend for Kim. He had never pressured her into pushing their relationship along, even though she put his hormones into overdrive. When he thought she wanted a jock, he became a jock. When she wanted more upscale dates, he got a job. Did she ever demand fancy dates from Chase? What had trying to please her gotten him? It had him learning that she had thrown herself at a guy she didn't even know, just because he was hot and charming. It had him learning that she had called in a favor just to go see him again; to have a booty call. It had him walking home from a high school dance, alone, even though he was the school's hero that evening. And now Monique wanted him to patch it up with her. Why? Just so she could have her backup guy to date while she checked out the next hottie?

Maybe with all the rotten stuff that happened while he tried to do the right thing, something good could happen from doing something selfish and wrong.

But what about Tara?

**"...she wasn't drunk, stoned, or emotionally shook up..."**

They wound up laying on the couch, on their sides and facing each other. He kissed her neck and caressed her back...and she slipped a leg up and over his, locking them close together. He didn't know how long this went on until her hand caught his. He stopped, sure that she was about to call a halt to things when she gently slid his hand...

"Tara?" He asked, having trouble keeping his voice steady. "Just...where do you want to take this?"

"As far as we're both good with?" She gasped back. "We can just keep going."

"But why?" He managed to ask. He paused to catch his breath. "Where did this come from?"

"Why can't you believe that I want this with you?" She almost pleaded. "Why can't you believe that I've liked you for a long time? Why can't you believe that this is where I want to be?"

He didn't have an answer.

**"She's with you because she wants to be with you. Chill out and enjoy it while it lasts."**

He kissed her again and she melted into him. There were no more questions, only the enjoyment of being pressed up against a beautiful, young woman who wanted to be where she was at, who wanted to be doing what she was doing. He grew a little bolder, trusting Tara to let him know if he was taking this somewhere she didn't want to go, or if he was moving things faster than she was comfortable with. There was the joy and satisfaction of her reactions to his efforts and her encouragement to continue.

He had a moment of confusion, when she disentangled herself from him and got to her feet. Then, she took his hand and led him up the stairs to his room.

_Chase's advice was fine...for Chase. You're not him, you don't have the same views towards love that he does..._

"Tara." He managed to get his hormone-addled thoughts coherent enough to speak. "Th-there's only one reason we're going into my room, isn't there?"

To her credit, she didn't roll her eyes or make a sarcastic comment. Instead, her big, blue eyes became confused. "Don't you want to?" She asked him. "Don't you...like me?"

"If this was last year at this time..." he tried to explain. "But I...I can't..." He stammered and stuttered.

She simply took his hand and waited.

"Tara, you're gorgeous," he finally managed to say. "You're also one of the sweetest people I know. But right now, with me still so shook up over Kim...it's just not fair to you. I don't want my...my first time to be something like this. I want it to be with someone I love and as much as I like you, I can't say that I love you."

"I understand," she whispered. She looked disappointed, but not angry. "But I've already made my excuse to spend the night away from home. Do you have a spare room, or can I crash on your couch?"

* * *

A poke in his cheek disturbed him.

This wasn't welcome. He was fast asleep. He hadn't managed to get to sleep until late. As much as he had been honest with Tara last night, as much as he didn't want to make love with her, he had a normal, healthy teenager's body and libido. The make-out session on the couch had left him in a more flustered state than any of his dates with Kim had. That had him feeling guilty; was he so weak that an admittedly pretty girl could get him so close to abandoning his morals just by putting her tongue in his mouth and putting his hand on her...

A second poke disturbed him.

Okay, he got the message. It didn't matter how much Tara had scrambled him up last night, or what he finally had to do to take care of it. It didn't matter how tired he was. He didn't have time to think about things. Sounds were coming from the baby monitor, the slight fussing and grumbling Hana did just before waking fully up. The implications of last night's actions...or inactions...had to wait; his little sister would be awake soon, and she would need to be changed, cleaned and fed.

Mostly on autopilot, he reached Hana's room just before she woke fully. While his parents usually took care of her in the morning, he had given them enough days off that he was familiar with the routine. She was quickly changed, cleaned and working on a bottle while Ron struggled to decide what to do about Tara. He had no experience with this sort of situation; what was the proper etiquette? Was he supposed to wake her up? Was he supposed to drive her home? He had no idea until his stomach grumbled.

That was easy enough; she'd probably want breakfast as much as he did. Halfway through his preparations, he heard movement upstairs, signaling that his overnight guest was moving. By the time she walked into the kitchen, hair brushed, clothes straight and looking absolutely stunning with a touch of a blush on her face, he had breakfast on the table. It was a little awkward but he was right about their appetites; both were more interested in eating than in talking about the previous night. Finally, with both of them finished and Ron clearing away the dishes, he decided that if he could face supervillains, he could face Tara. How many times had he dreamed of having breakfast with a beautiful girl who had spent the night? How did that translate when the girl had spent the night in the guest room?

"So, which one of us will be the one to address the elephant in the room?" He asked her.

"I think you just did," she answered.

"So...what does this mean?" He asked her. "Are you mad at me? Can we still be friends?"

"We're friends," she assured him. "I was hoping that something would happen last night. I wasn't expecting to wind up in bed with you, but I was ready for it. I wasn't expecting to spend the night in the guest room."

"Oh no," Ron interrupted her. "If I...I...Tara, I'm so..."

"Don't apologize!" She snapped at him. "I got caught up in the moment and I think you did, as well. I don't regret last night, do you?"

"Well..." he struggled to find the words. "I didn't realize that I would come so close to..."

"It was a close thing for me, too," she admitted. "But I think I should apologize to you. I don't know all the details, but I know that you and Kim are having a rough patch. Flirting with a boy who's shook up over a girl isn't a good thing to do; even if I've liked you for a long time."

He couldn't think of anything to say to answer that.

"Ron, I think that you're cute and I think that you're sweet," she told him. "I would love to be your girlfriend and if I was, it would really be hard for me to control myself around you. The only problem is that you belong to Kim, no matter what she did to you. You have so much history together that neither one of you can just walk away, so promise me one thing."

He quirked up one eyebrow.

"I want you to make an honest effort to put things back together with Kim." She told him. "But I don't want you groveling and apologizing. I want you to make it clear to her that if you're going to be a couple, it's going to be equals. Give her a chance to put it back together with you, but don't forget that you're as much of a prize as she is. I'm not blind, I know that you've spent most of the year trying to prove that you're good enough for her. Remember that she has to be good enough for you, as well. If the two of you can't make it work, you need to know that there aren't just boys that would love to be with her, there are girls who would love to be with you."

* * *

There was a schedule for things and Monique, as the queen of gossip, knew these schedules. Kim and Ron had been in a bad way for long enough; it was time to get them face to face so they could work it out. While she had managed to get Kim to unwind a little and enjoy herself last night, it was obvious to her that the redhead missed her best friend and missed her boyfriend. It was also obvious that Ron missed her. Kim had gotten to the point where she could see Ron's point of view, so it was only a matter of getting him to see hers. Everything would work out, with a little help. Part of that help was getting the two in the same room without interruptions.

Ron couldn't go see Kim this morning; he had Hana duty and taking Hana out into the cold for something like that wasn't a good idea. On the other hand, there wasn't anything wrong with him going to see her once his parents got back. For that reason, she was heading for his house to have a word...or more to the point, a whole lot of words, with him to get him ready for his meeting this afternoon. Despite the fact that she wasn't a morning person, she was up and about bright and early, making her way to Ron's house. She wondered if she would wake him up but decided that with him taking care of a baby this morning, he would already be up. It was a pity; catching someone half-awake was a good way to pour suggestions into their brain without them realizing it. Instead, she was the one who got a shock to her tired brain.

She was a couple of blocks away from her goal when she saw the door open and Tara and Ron emerge. Monique stopped dead in her tracks; while it wasn't "the crack of dawn" early, there was no way that Tara had come over for a legitimate, early morning visit. The two blondes looked awkward, like they couldn't decide how they should say good-bye to each other.

That wasn't good.

Eventually, the two offered each other a quick hug, then Tara hoisted a bag over one shoulder and walked away from him. Thinking quickly, Monique walked up a side-street so she could observe the other girl, without being seen. While she didn't know exactly where Tara lived, she had a general idea and noted that Tara must be walking home. Making up her mind, Monique hurried down a couple of streets and got ahead of the blonde.

"Oh! Hi Monique," Tara greeted her, when they "encountered" each other.

Monique stifled a growl. The blonde was far too happy for her peace of mind.

"I saw you leave Ron's house," she grumbled. "Care telling me what happened to helping get him and Kim back together?"

"I did just that," the blonde retorted, then sighed. "If we're going to have an argument, could we do it where it's warmer? There's a cafe a block or two from here. I'm stuffed, but we can grab a cup of something warm and talk this out."

Monique scowled. Was she just trying to get somewhere warmer, or was she trying to get somewhere more public, in case she didn't have the right answers? Well, shouting wouldn't accomplish anything and if Monique was foolish enough to try some smack-down, it wouldn't go well. Tara was a cheerleader and that meant an athlete. If it came to a fight, Monique knew she would wind up losing. The blonde was right, they may as well be warm.

Soon, the two were seated in a corner table with mugs of hot chocolate in front of them. The music coming over the cheap speakers wasn't great, but it was just loud enough that they could talk, quietly, without being overheard.

"So what happened between the two of you last night?" Monique demanded.

"I'll give you a chance to take that question back," Tara answered. "Don't ask a question unless you're ready for the answer."

"Okay, I don't need details," she admitted. "But what about trying to get the two of them back together again?"

"I did that," Tara told her. She glanced around, making sure that nobody was close enough to listen to them. "Ron's problem is that he can't believe that a pretty girl can ever want him. Let's throw away the false modesty; I'm a very pretty girl and now he knows that I want him."

"You did...that...for the two of them?" Monique didn't know if she should be stunned or disbelieving.

"Maybe," Tara told her. "I've liked Ron for a long time. The plan was to do the assignment, hang with him and have fun, then let him know that I liked him...as in LIKED him. He'd realize that a pretty girl could be hung up on him and I'd have a little time just chilling with him, having fun and acting like he was my boyfriend."

"I take it that it didn't work out quite that way?"

"I'd rather not say," Tara told her. "But I'll say that my ego took a pretty hard shot."

"That makes me feel a little better," Monique admitted. "But did you just complicate everything?"

"Maybe," Tara admitted. "Or maybe I just simplified it. I'm with you; those two belong with each other. I asked him to make his best effort to patch things up with Kim."

Monique quirked up an eyebrow.

"Hey, if I were to get together with him right now, he'd always wonder if he gave it his best effort with Kim. I don't need that."

"Okay..." Monique was a little wary of that statement. "But he was also being pigheaded about her having a quick fling and keeping secrets from him."

"Maybe he can see her point of view now," Tara pointed out. "Hypothetically speaking, if he got caught up in the moment, he'll be able to see her point of view. Maybe he can see how things can catch you by surprise, get out of hand and lead you someplace where you didn't intend to go, even though you're glad you went there."

"Okay, I officially want the answer. Just what happened between the two of you?" Monique was tired of vague answers.

"He called a stop to things before it went to the conclusion," Tara told her. "Like I said, I took a hard shot to my ego, but I respect him more for it."

"Are you sure you're okay with all this?" Monique demanded.

"Don't worry about me trying to charge him with anything, or making claims on social media," Tara rolled her eyes a little. "There's a double standard about these things. If a hot guy were to make a move on a depressed girl, it would be creepy. If a hot girl makes a move on a depressed guy, it's an act of mercy or love. I'll say that I don't regret anything that happened between the two of us, even though I won't tell anyone about it. If he admits it to Kim, I won't deny it but it's going to be up to Ron...or you...to tell her."

"This wasn't about Bonnie putting you up to it, was it?" Monique's tone showed a great deal more sympathy than before. "You really care about the guy, don't you?"

"Enough to let him go," Tara confirmed. "I've liked him for a long time. I just didn't realize that he didn't understand girls and didn't realize that I was into him. Then, I was with Josh and by the time I wasn't anymore, he was with Kim. I'd like to be with him, but I'm not about to steal a boyfriend. I want him to make every effort to patch things up with Kim. If they can't work it out, it means that I can be his girlfriend with go guilt. If they do..." she offered a sad smile. "If they put it back together, I guess I can be happy that I helped them."

* * *

The time for delay was over. Kim had never been one to simply wait for someone else to do something. Ron had Hana duty, so he was at home. This didn't mean that she had to wait for his parents to get home, so that he could come and talk to her. She knew that he was home and she knew that Hana wouldn't let him sleep in late. Shortly after breakfast, she set her jaw and left her room, intending on heading to Ron's house to have this out. By this evening, they would either be officially trying to make it work or they would officially be broken up. She came up short when her father intercepted her at the door.

"Your mother had an emergency procedure yesterday," he explained. "And your brothers were doing things I hope I never learn in cyberspace, with your cousins until just as late. They're all sleeping in. Would you mind having a little talk?

She was irritated at the suggestion but she didn't have a legitimate reason to not agree. She nodded and let him lead her into the den. Once seated, he tried to speak a couple of times, but seemed unable to start. Finally, in true Possible fashion, he steeled himself and forged on.

"As close as you and Ronald have been, there are only a few things that could be causing the two of you this much trouble," he finally said. "These things are...very serious issues. I'll admit that I feel hurt that you haven't been able to discuss them with me, but I can only hope that you've spoken with your mother."

Kim nodded. She chided herself for being surprised. Her father was one of the top astrophysicists in the world; he would certainly be able to puzzle out what was going on.

"That's good," he took a deep breath. "By your actions, I can only guess that you are trying to somehow make amends with Ronald and resume your r-r-roman..." another deep breath. "Your romantic relationship."

Despite the tension, Kim couldn't help but smile at her father's reluctance to admit that his little girl wasn't so little anymore. Still, she nodded her agreement.

"I'll admit that I've long approved of you dating Ronald for selfish reasons," he admitted. "I know that you are going to date and I've had a certain amount of control over him. "I'm also...not as unaware as you may think that I am," he continued. "I know that my daughter has grown into a stunningly attractive young woman. So many pretty young women demand that others provide for their every want, yet you've maintained an ability to laugh at adversity and adapt whenever your life threw a curve at you. I admire you for that."

"Thank you," Kim told him.

"Yet, I suspect that you are unaware of some of the hypocrisy, the flaws that you have shown in your relations towards Ronald. Perhaps the perspective from a man who used to be a great deal like him could help." He smiled at her shocked expression. "No, I was always a great deal more academically accomplished than he is, but I was every bit as socially awkward as him. I was every bit a clueless about girls as he was, and probably still is."

"So, how do you see this?" Kim asked him.

"I know that there have been several dates that, you didn't really appreciate," James told his daughter. "A couple were completely foolish but I have to ask you, how many dates have you taken him on?"

Kim's mouth fell open.

"How many times have you offered to pay for the dates?" He asked. Again, Kim couldn't respond. "How many times have you asked him how much money he had available and worked with him to plan a date that you could both enjoy?"

Kim continued to stare at him, her mouth still open.

"I'm sure that I don't want to know any details about your more...physical displays of affection," her father was now blushing. "But how many times do you initiate this? Do you leave it up to him and if the time, place and...er...method are unwelcome, do you tell him; or do you tell him off?"

She still couldn't speak.

"I know that he will occasionally give you a flower, as a token of his affection," James continued. "Do you ever return the favor? Do you ever spontaneously give him something to show that you appreciate him being your b-b-b-boyfriend?"

"I think I'm getting the idea," Kim finally managed to say.

"There's an old saying," James told her. "It was already old when I started dating. It went something like; if you see a beautiful woman, somewhere, there's a man who's tired of being with her. Kimberly, I know that for the most part, you are happy with inexpensive dates with Ronald, activities that matched the things you enjoyed as friends. There's nothing wrong with wanting the occasional, higher end activity but are you also showing that he's worth it? He holds down a part-time job, as well as being on the football team, just to please you. Have you made a similar gesture to him?"

She thought about it but couldn't come up with anything. "No," she finally admitted.

"So while you are dating Ronald, you leave it up to him to ask you out, you don't help him with this but you let him know when he comes up with something that you don't enjoy. You don't go out of your way to make him feel special to you yet he has taken on responsibilities for you. I hope you can understand that any sort of...other issue between you...will be multiplied by this."

She was stunned at the thought. Back when they were "just" friends, she would treat him to a trip to Bueno Nacho whenever he was down about something, or make a point of going to his house to see him. Since they started dating, that had stopped. Why was that?

"Even a man who was as socially inept as me can look back on his life and recall three girls," her father continued. "There was the one who got away, the one who could have been, and the one that used me like the rung on a ladder. Some day that artistic young man who you dated...Joshua...may look back at you as the one who got away. I always thought that someday, Ronald would look at you as the one that could have been. I hoped that no man would ever look back at you as the third option."

"Dad, what are you saying?" Kim demanded. "I'm not just keeping Ron around until something better comes along?"

"Really?" He looked at her with an uncharacteristically stern expression. "I remember you talking to your mother, wide-eyed and breathless, about Joshua and about that...artificial creation of Drew's. I don't recall the same excitement about Ronald. Am I missing something?"

Kim was, once again, stunned into speechlessness.

"This aspect of your life is one that I don't want to intrude upon, but one that I will give you some advice about, assuming that you want to avoid hurting the young man in question. If you are unhappy with any aspect of your current relationship with Ronald, be it emotional, social or ph-ph-physical, I suggest that you speak with him and deal with it. If you cannot find a solution, break it off with him, before you find a young man who is what you want. Don't turn him into a rung on a ladder."

The silence in the den was long enough to become uncomfortable.

"If nothing else, doesn't Ronald deserve the opportunity to find a girl who views him the same way that you viewed Joshua or...Erik?" He asked.

Still, silence.

"One last piece of advice," the elder Possible offered. "If you are going to speak to him, I would suggest that you wait until his parents get home. Some of the subjects are probably not the sort that should be said in front of a child. Also, perhaps you should ask yourself why you wish to repair this relationship. Do you honestly want him, or is it pride that won't let you admit that entering into a romantic relationship with him was wrong in the first place?"

* * *

_A/N: As stated earlier in this chapter, I am altering the ending of this tale. There will be one more chapter._

_Big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: For those who have previously read this tale, I have altered the ending. The alterations start back in Chapter 7, so please re-read that chapter before continuing._

* * *

As the captain of the cheer squad, the chair of numerous student committees and clubs, and a heroine, Kim was painfully familiar with Parkinson's Law. However, she had never faced it in her personal life. She knew that Ron's parents would be in sometime around noon and she was determined to not put off this talk, so she asked Wade to let her know when they arrived. After that, she tried to incorporate her father's advice to what she had planned on talking to Ron about. As per that hated law, she still wasn't done hashing things over in her head when Wade let her know that the Stoppables had returned and Ron would now be available to talk. In this instance procrastination would be worse than partial preparation; if she didn't face things now, she would keep coming up with excuses to not do it. Bracing herself, she put on her heavy coat and sallied forth out the door and into the cold day.

"__Listen to him, don't get mad___,_" she told herself. "__He has legitimate concerns; you just didn't realize how legitimate they were until you talked to your dad. The important thing is that you want to be with him and you know that he wants to be with you. You haven't been very good at letting him know how special he is to you. Once you manage that, once he__knows__that he's everything to you, the two of you can patch this up and move on.__"

The familiar walk was both too short and too long. She concentrated on maintaining her usual pace, neither rushing to this confrontation nor delaying it. All too soon, she was standing at the door, ringing the bell. It took too long for the door to open, revealing Mrs. Stoppable.

"Oh, hi Kim," Ron's mother gave her a look that was neither friendly nor hostile, but curious. For a few moments, Kim wondered if Ron had even told his parents that the two of them had broken up. After all the times they let him know about major changes after the fact, it would be payback for him to not let them know that she was no longer his girlfriend.

She dearly hoped that he wasn't fixated on payback.

"Is Ron in?" She asked.

"Sure, come in out of the cold," the older woman stepped aside, allowing her to come into the warm house. In the living room, a fire was burning in the fireplace while Mr. Stoppable was playing with Hana. Kim felt a little disappointed that the little girl didn't pay her any attention, but she was clearly enjoying her time with her father. Mrs. Stoppable took her coat while Kim removed her boots.

"Ronald's up in his room," the Stoppable Matron informed her visitor. "He seems a little troubled. Perhaps he needs to spend some time with you to clear his head."

Okay, Mrs. Stoppable knew that not all was well between her and Ron, but she still didn't know if Ron had told her about the breakup. Kim decided that it didn't matter; putting the two of them back together was more important than who else knew what. Instead of saying anything, she just nodded and walked up the stairs, again concentrating on neither running nor dragging her feet. Again, all too soon, she was in front of the familiar door. She concentrated on making sure that she neither pounded nor tapped when she knocked on the door. When the muffled "come in" sounded from inside, she concentrated on neither throwing the door open nor opening it at a dramatically slow rate. Then, she was standing in the open doorway while Ron was standing next to his bed, coat in hand.

"Oh, Kim," he swallowed. "I was just about to head to your house."

"I couldn't wait," she told him.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I guess one of us needs to say that we need to talk, but since we both know it, it doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"No," she managed a brief smile at his attempt at humor.

"Come in, please," he turned the chair at his desk around, turned his space heater on and took a seat on his bed. Kim took the hint and took the chair.

"Why don't I go first?" She suggested. At his nod, she continued. "I want us back together."

He seemed to be caught off guard by the direct statement. He looked at her, opening his mouth once or twice.

"Why?" He asked, finally.

"Because we're good for each other," she told him. It was one of the questions that she was ready for. "We were good for each other as friends, we're better as boyfriend and girlfriend. Look at you; you have a job and you're getting scholarship offers from some major universities. As for me..." she took a deep breath. "I was a lot more pleasant to be around when we were dating."

"But I can only date you," he said, bitterly. "I helped you with Josh, I stood in that closet while you were freaking out over your dream guy and I told you you could handle it. What did I get out of it? I got locked in the closet! Your dream guy was there so you had to get me out of the way. In return, you knew that Tara liked me for months but you never told me. You knew that I didn't know! Why didn't you tell me that Tara liked me?"

"Because then I'd have to share you with someone," she admitted. "It's not pretty, but it's honest. If you and Tara got friendly, I wouldn't have my Ron night every Friday, or someone willing to drop everything to go on a mission, or just hang with when I needed a friend. You saw how I freaked out when you started to hang out with Felix; if you were with Tara, it would be even worse." She looked down, then timidly brought her face up to look at him. "I'll admit that I'm selfish with you."

"But you sure don't return the favor, do you?" He grumbled. "You had no trouble locking me in a closet so you'd have your shot at your hottie. You ditched me to be with Eric and..." he took a deep breath and blinked back tears. "You sure weren't thinking of me when you hooked up with Chase."

Of course that would come up, but she was sure that there would be more than just that. She waited him out, determined to let him have his time to air everything out.

"What about Yori?" He finally managed to ask. "There wasn't any risk of losing me to her. I wasn't about to move to Japan in my junior year of high school. Why didn't you tell me that she liked me?"

"Because I was jealous," she answered. Again, she was ready for the question, even if she didn't like the honest answer. "There was this beautiful girl that I didn't know, but who knew you. I've always known everything about you; your friends, your family, but suddenly there was this person I had never seen before who was friendly with you. It wasn't a case of me sharing, it was a case of me sharing you and I didn't know about it." She flinched, for the first time putting things together and realizing how similar her learning about Yori was to Ron learning about Chase. "Then, you ran off to South America with her...you only did things like that with me! It wasn't fair. Then, I saw how skilled she was; how smart yet kindly. She was so close to being the perfect person and she was interested in you. I wasn't thinking of the thousands of miles to Japan, I was only thinking that here was someone who could...be everything to you."

He still stared at her, his eyes boring into her in a way that she had never thought possible. "And Zita?" He asked. "Why didn't you help me with her? You gave me the big speech that there were no such things as dating rules, but you and Monique had a good time joking about it. What was it that Monique said, something about giving the sitch the best friend spin?"

"I was being a jerk," she admitted, even though she hadn't been prepared for a question about Zita. "We were being jerks. We knew you were hung up on her and we were having fun with it. We never thought about you actually wanting to try to be a boyfriend. We saw a chance for humor and took it."

"So the whole idea that I might like a girl is a joke?" He demanded. "The whole idea that some girl might like me is a joke?"

"No," she whispered. "But I treated it like one, and that was wrong."

He was still seething but seemed to have nothing else to say for the moment. "Ron?" She asked. "Why didn't you want to tell Yori that we were together?"

It caught him by surprise, she saw. He was angry, but being the one answering for once had him off balance.

"I liked the idea of her being in to me," he finally answered. "There was no twelve years of friendship, no saving her at Wannaweep. It was just someone who liked me and I had never had that before. I still haven't."

"I'm in to you," Kim sobbed. "Aren't I good enough for you?"

"Only after everyone else didn't pan out for you," he growled. A tear slipped from the corner of his eye and he wiped it away with a savage swipe of his hand. "Josh didn't work out for you, Eric was a fake, so you wind up settling for me."

"I didn't settle!" She snapped at him.

"I want to believe that," he said, this time not noticing a tear slipping from his other eye. "But how many people have said how wonderful it is that you found someone that makes you happy? How many people have said that it's great that you gave me a chance, that it was about time that you opened your eyes and started dating me? How many of them have said that it's wonderful that I'm dating my best friend? Why is it that once you decided that you wanted to date me, we were dating? Didn't I have any say in the matter? Why is it that you're so much more than me that I'm...yours by right?"

"That's a harsh way of looking at it," she admitted. "Ron I know that I'm famous and I know that I'm hot but there's no reason to think that it was ever anything but the two of us deciding to get together."

"The two of us," he snorted with bitter humor. "You risked your life for a date with Josh. You scored tickets for a date with Hirotaka and Chase?" He took another deep breath, getting control of his temper. "How many missions had Hirotaka helped you with before you decided he was worth asking out? How many competitions had Josh helped you win before it was worth dying just to go on a date with him? How many nice dates had Chase taken you on before you called in a favor to...to..."

"Is that it?" She growled back, angry that he was asking questions that she really didn't have an answer to. "Do you want to have sex with me? If that will put us back together, I will put you down on that bed and make love to you, even though your parents and sister are downstairs.""

He stared at her, clearly wondering if she was serious or not. She saw no reason to tell him that she was.

"It wouldn't be right, would it?" He finally whispered. "I may be a pathetic buffoon, but my first time is going to be with someone who wants to do it with me, not with someone who wants something from me in exchange."

"But isn't that what you're saying?" Kim kept her voice calm. "That somehow, you're supposed to earn sex by taking me on dates, going on missions and being my friend."

"No," Ron answered. "But don't those things tell you that I took us seriously? I did my best for you but somehow, you don't think that I'm worth taking that next step with. Somehow, you don't think I'm worth the same level of effort."

"I know it seems like that," she now sobbed, wiping at her own eyes. "But I always valued the time we spent together. It just seemed so easy, so natural that I didn't see the need to...to demonstrate to you how much you meant to me. That was wrong and as of now, you're going to know that I value you. I don't care if we don't put it back together, you're going to know that you mean everything to me."

Another long pause.

"And if after all that, I ditch you for a pretty face?" He asked. "How will you feel?"

"Devastated," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean I won't show you what you mean to me. Even if we go our separate ways after we graduate, even if we never speak again and never see each other again, I'll be sad but I'll know that I made an effort to let you know that you're the center of my world."

"Until the next hottie comes along," he sighed. "Kim, that's why I think this is a mistake. Every time the hot guy showed up, you pushed me to the side to be with him. That was hard enough when we were friends, but what happens when we go to college? What happens when you're in some Ivy League School while I'm trading football for a degree somewhere else?"

"What happens when the girl who isn't shy about letting you know she loves you shows up while I'm somewhere else?" She asked him back. "Ron, I don't want to be apart from you and it isn't just because I want to chase off any girl who looks at you, or have you there when some boy starts looking at me. I want to be with you because...**I. Want. To. Be. With. You**. I'm a better person when I'm with you and I don't feel like a whole person when you're gone. There's no guarantee that we'll stay together, and it's not just because I might find someone else. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't try."

"Sort of like trying to sell pets at Smarty Mart?" He offered a weak smile. "Most people won't buy one, but you have to treat each one like they may?"

"That's a unique way of putting it," she returned the smile, probably as weak. "I never thought dating was like trying to sell hamsters, but it's accurate. I'd like us to try again."

"Why did you?" He asked her. "Why did you have sex with Chase?"

The big question. The one that she had been asking herself ever since this fiasco started. The one she had been asking herself, but not wanting to admit that she had been asking herself, ever since their second encounter.

"I can answer that," she told him. "If you're sure you want to hear it."

"It's well past time for harsh truths," he told her.

She took a deep breath and delved in. "So many things came together," she told him. "I was frustrated over Bonnie, irritated with the way you were still hung up over Gil...and yes, Yes! You were right all along." She forestalled his interruption. "Then, it was the moonlit lake, being out after curfew when I shouldn't have been, meeting a cute and charming guy who was also where he shouldn't have been, when he shouldn't have been there. After that, it was the first time that a guy had actually made a move on me...not to kiss me or something like that, but to...arouse me. By the time I realized what was happening, I was fully into it."

"I'll admit that I romanticized the whole thing later," she told him. "I thought that it was some love at first sight thing, but...it was what it was. He was a player and I was one of those he played. I read more into it than there really was. For him, it was a casual thing that I thought was meaningful. I'm not going to regret it and say it was horrible, even if I'm not about to do it again. I didn't realize how...possible...it was to get caught up in the moment and just go along with things."

Instead of anger or disbelief, he actually looked thoughtful.

"But you're still fond of him," he noted.

"In a quick hug, how have you been doing sort of way," she shrugged. "Much like you and Zita...or even Yori."

His only answer was a bitter snort.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"You conveniently leave out that I was never intimate with either of them," he pointed out. "And that neither of them was ever a jerk towards you."

"I know," she told him. "It's not fair. I'm not going to try to sugar coat it."

"So, you get to have your fun and I'm not even allowed to be friends with a girl unless you approve," he grumbled.

"Is that something else we have to deal with?" Her question wasn't heated or dismissive; just a straightforward inquiry. "If you want, you can have a fling. I'll just have to deal with it and if I can't, maybe you're right and we shouldn't try to patch things back up."

"It wouldn't be fair to the girl," he shook his head.

"I wouldn't be so sure," she pointed out. "Once you hit college, there are going to be a few girls who want the status of scoring with the athlete. They're not the kind to mind if you move on."

"It wouldn't be fair to me, either," he said. "Maybe I'm the idiot, but I want my first time to be with someone special to me...someone I'm special to. I want to go through all those little steps, the dating, the kissing, the exploring and testing boundaries. I don't want to deny myself that."

"I envy you," she admitted. "And I'm willing to do this with you. I've failed to let you know how special you are to me, and that's going to change. I'm willing to wait until the time is right for the two of us."

"And then what if I'm not as good as he was?" He suddenly spat out. "I always screw up when I try something for the first time. What if I do it again? What if I never figure out what I'm doing? What if every time, you wind up thinking about how much better he was than me?" He dropped his face into his hands.

"It won't come to that," she told him. She got up, the dropped to her knees in front of him, taking one of his hands into hers. "When we come to that point...and I know that we will, I'll talk to you. We'll figure out what works for both of us. We always succeed when we work together, so if we're honest with each other about...intimacy...we'll figure out how to make it awesome for both of us. If all else fails, there's always practice, practice, practice."

He looked up with a short chuckle and hesitant hope on his face.

"I haven't invested in this relationship like I should have been," she told him. "You were putting in the effort and I was content to just sit back and let you do the work for both of us. That was wrong, and it's going to change."

She took a deep breath. "I was also content to let you take the initiative and risk rejection when it came to our...physical affection. That's going to change, as well. If you make any sort of move that I'm not comfortable with, I'll let you know and not by being sarcastic or cruel. I'll simply say something. But you're going to do the same, okay?"

"What?" He was confused.

"What if I want to push things to where you're not comfortable?" She asked. "It could happen. If it does, I'm going to want you to do the same thing; just let me know that you're not comfortable, okay?"

"Okay."

"That goes for feeling unappreciated, as well," she told him. "I'm not so special that you should feel good just because we're dating. If you feel unappreciated, if you start feeling that you're not special to me, I want you to tell me, okay?"

"Okay."

"This has been terribly unfair to you, and I'm asking a lot, I know," she pressed on. "But I know that we're worth it. Please, please let us give it another try."

He looked at her, a smile showing through his tears. "How could I do anything else?"

It was too much for her; she threw herself into his arms, knocking him back on the bed. It wasn't over; they hadn't actually put things to right but now that he was in her arms and she was in his, she just knew that they would make it work.

* * *

Epilogue:

Two weeks from graduation. For the seniors, it was going to be a pretty easy last run. Sure, there would be a few quizzes to take and school equipment to turn in, but Middleton High believed in taking care of that earlier, so that the seniors could enjoy their last couple of weeks together.

Monique sighed, a bittersweet expression. She had been working towards this for so long that now that it was here, she was almost afraid of what the future would bring. She had made solid friends; friends that would probably never be gathered together ever again. Of course, there were a few things that she regretted. With a sad smile, she admitted that she had hoped to find a boyfriend by graduation time. That hadn't panned out, but she could take some solace that her two best friends had managed to put it back together.

She had a little satisfaction at that. It had started the Monday after she had intended on having a word with Ron, but had wound up having a word with Tara. With the new week, Kim and Ron showed up to school hand in hand again. They weren't as close as they had been before Ron learned about Kim's fling, but it was clear that they were honestly trying to put it back together. As the weeks went by, it went from hand holding to arm-in-arm to arms around each other on the walk to class. Around semester break, they were in the habit of stopping just before they reached the campus to kiss each other.

Monique had to smile at that. They were always inches outside of Barkin's authority when they did so and they knew that the vice principal was watching them. The sound of teeth grinding against each other echoed throughout the halls every time they paused. Still, the kisses weren't excessive; they were simply honest expressions of affection, shared at the last moment before they could express affection again.

She had heard about adversity making things stronger, and it seemed to have worked out this time. Ron was still...Ron; prone to do some bizarre things now and then but it was clear that when he did, Kim must have talked to him and he must have listened. Kim was still Kim, prone to be overwhelming at times but again, Ron must have gotten in the habit of talking to her about it and she must have gotten in the habit of listening to him. Their relationship had been on the ropes...maybe even over...but they had managed to put it together again.

Ron must have been honest about the close call with Tara, because at one point, Kim started giving the pretty blonde some very hard looks. But maybe that had been for the better, as well. Truth was truth and Ron knew that Kim attracted a lot of eyes without even trying. Knowing that there was a pretty girl with her eyes on Ron helped keep Kim from taking him for granted.

Time had gone by with the occasional little spat between the two of them, but they always got over them very quickly. While the Mad Dogs didn't win a state championship, they did very well and as a result, Ron got more interest from various universities. The two lovebirds were comparing college offers, clearly planning on staying together after high school. That made Monique happy, even if she didn't have any luck with romance, at least her friends were getting it right.

And so she finished her shift on Saturday night, no date but not feeling all that bad about it. Kim and her squad had spent Friday winning a cheer competition, only to have a mission come up right afterwards. The mission took them late into the night and they called in a favor to put them up overnight. Monique had gotten a text during her shift; Kim asking her if she'd like to hang at the Possible's for a bit. It wasn't a date, but something to do was perfectly fine for Monique.

She didn't know if it was Jim or Tim that answered the door; she could never tell the two apart. Whichever one it was let her know that Kim was in the laundry room and led the way before scooting off to perform who knew what sort of mayhem with his twin. To her shock, she found Kim ironing her cheer uniform.

"Whoa girl," Monique announced herself. "I never took you for the domestic type."

"Oh, I lost track of the time," Kim told her. "The uniform was seriously mussed up."

"No Ron?" Monique asked. "Did you have a bit of a falling out again?"

"No, he has Hana duty and he was seriously worn out after the mission." Monique noticed a bit of a blush on her friends face while the redhead explained the absence of her boyfriend. "If he was here, he'd probably be doing the ironing."

"Well, your laundry skills are giving your cooking skills a run for the money," Monique noted. "Why don't I give you a hand with that?"

Between the two of them, they managed to get the mussed uniform straightened out.

"Just how did you manage to get your uniform that disheveled?" Monique asked. "Now, a cheerleader uniform isn't exactly high fashion, but it's still a crime to disrespect clothes that much."

"Cheer competition," Kim pointed out. "Sweat, severe activity...not exactly conductive to remaining properly pressed."

"The routines don't explain the wrinkles. I know clothes and that was more along the line of a long, hard day's work."

"Well, the mission came up right after the last routine," Kim admitted. "I was in a hurry and I didn't have time to change. Fortunately, Ron was able to pick up my ready bag, so I was able to change into mission wear when we got to Drakken's latest lair, but I still had my uniform in my pack, on my back, during the fight with Shego and the escape from the lair."

"Even an explosion doesn't explain that," Monique pointed out, wondering why Kim was being so evasive about things. "Explosions are over in a moment, those wrinkles were more like you rolled on the ground for hours while wearing it." She shrugged. "No matter, how'd the mission go and how's it going with Ron?"

"The mission was great, it just took a long time," Kim told her. The redhead led the way to the kitchen, where the two loaded up on snacks before heading into the den and streaming a movie.

"Even with the kind of transportation that Wade can scare up, traveling to the Caribbean can take some time." Kim pointed out, once they had settled in and started the show. "We had to parachute in and our transport couldn't wait for us. After we destroyed Drakken's latest machine, Wade was only able to get a local ride for us. Fortunately, we wound up at a nice resort who's owner owed me a favor. He set us up with adjoining rooms in this bungalow out over the water."

Some things were starting to add up in Monique's mind. "That sounds romantic," she commented, and noted a slight blush starting to show on her friend's face.

"The meal was wonderful," Kim went on. "The chef even let Ron into the kitchen and gave him some pointers while he cooked for me."

"It's sounding sweeter and sweeter," Monique noted.

"It was a full moon last night," Kim continued. "And the water was calm. We stood on a balcony for a long time. The only thing wrong was that we were in our mission gear. We should have been wearing something casual." She sighed, but it was a happy sigh. "He should have been wearing board shorts and a button shirt that was open; I should have been in a bikini with a sarong cover. Still, with the uniform in my pack, I had something close to what it should have been."

"Kim," Monique could barely contain her excitement. "Am I about to hear a confession?"

"What can I say," Kim was blushing even brighter, but had a happy smile. "It was the right time and the perfect place."

"Well, it's about time," Monique smiled, happy for her friends. "How did it go?"

"Wonderful."

However, more and more was adding up in Monique's mind. "Wait a minute!" She suddenly demanded. "Is that how your uniform got so mussed? Did you...leave it on? Did you do the naughty cheerleader to him?"

"Monique!" Now Kim was blushing furiously. "That would be a misuse of school property!"

"Okay, hypothetically speaking," Monique altered her question. "If you did do the naughty cheerleader, how did it work out?"

Kim didn't say anything but her blush got even brighter. Even through the blush, the fashion maven noted that her friend was smiling; it was a very happy, yet almost predatory smile.

* * *

_A/N: This tale was inspired by "The Deadly Embrace of Desire" and "The Garden of Serenity", both by Jeffc FTW. If you enjoyed this one, please R&R those works._

_As always, heartfelt thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._

_Best wishes to all_

_daccu65_


End file.
